Screech Owl
Update 5/5/2017
We contacted
Humane
Animal Rescue Wildlife Center this morning
and the two owlets, Sporkey & Spike, are doing
well. They have been feeding them hourly and
both owlets are eating and getting stronger.
Click here to see the a video of the owlets at
the rehab center
Screech Owl
Update 5/2/2017
We have some very sad news to report today.
Around 11:34 AM a red-tail hawk was able to pull
the female, Allie, out of the box and killed
her. We rescued (rescue
video) the owlets and took them to this
wildlife rehab center (please consider making
a donation - contact below):
Humane Animal Rescue Wildlife Center
Address: 6000 Verona Rd, Verona, PA 15147
Phone: (412) 345-7300 ext. 500
Hours: Open today · 8AM–4PM
http://humaneanimalrescue.org/ |
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See our other wildlife cams
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Welcome to the Eastern
Screech Owl Research Project
The purpose of
this site is to study the Eastern Screech Owl behaviors during the winter roosting and
spring nesting periods. The winter roosting period is
typically between October to March, and the nesting
period from March to June. During the fall of 2011 we
discovered an Eastern Screech owl roosting in one of the
nest boxes we had put up. We quickly installed a webcam
into the box to watch the owl. On advice from local
screech owl expert, Dick Byers, we installed several
more owl boxes in the same area and started a study to
monitor their behaviors. Although screech owls are
fairly common little is known about their behaviors
since they are nocturnal.
In our study we fitted nine artificial owl boxes with a small
infrared video camera and a small audio MIC. The video cameras
used were 1.20” in diameter and 4” long and include (8) infrared
LED’s which produce an infrared illumination source in the 940nm
range, which do not emit any visible red glow.
The screech owls will use the boxes during the day to
roost and leave at night to go hunting. We will try and
use the external PTZ camera to locate the owl at night
hunting if in the range of the owl boxes. During the day
we will position the PTZ camera on the box the owl is
roosting in. When the owl roosts in the morning it will
sit at the opening of the owl box for 1/2 to 1 hour
before going in to roost for the day. Before the owl
leaves the owl box at night it will sit at the opening
for 1/2 to 1 hour before leaving. The PTZ camera will
give you an outside view of the owl during these times.
There is a pair of screech owls named Allie & Dakota
that have been using the boxes since 2013. Allie is a
female gray phase screech owl and Dakota is a red phase
male screech owl. In 2013 the pair nested in box 5 and
Allie laid 3 eggs, however, the eggs didn't hatch. The
owls have not nested in the boxes until 2017. Allie will
do all of the incubating and Dakota will feed her at
night. Allie will take short breaks and leave the nest
at night. Often Dakota will come to the nest while she
leave. During the day Dakota will roost close by usually
in one of the other boxes.
Screech owls will typically lay 3-5 eggs in a brood, and
only have one brood a year. Eggs are laid 2 days apart
the the female will start incubating eggs as she lays
them. The incubation period is 27-35 days and the
nesting period is 28-30 days. After the owlets leave the
nest they will spend another 30 days with the parents
learning how to hunt.
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Meet Allie
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Meet Dakota
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Winter Roosting Activity
Screech owls do not
migrate; they maintain home ranges throughout the
winter. During they day light hours the owls will
find a roosting location and will roost until dark.
The winter roosting time period is typically between
October to March. Screech owls are primarily solitary except during
the breeding season. Pairs occasionally roost
together during the winter in hollow trees, nest
boxes, and trees with dense foliage. The cameras
enable us to view the activity inside the owl box
and outside the owl box with the PTZ camera. During
the day the owl boxes are often mobbed by song birds
and occasionally bothered by gray squirrels.
Caching of Prey
It is a well known
fact that screech owls will cache uneaten prey items
in cavities. We were surprised at the number of
different species cached and how long the prey items
remained in the owl boxes before being consumed. The
most interesting item was a wood frog (see below)
which was cached on the evening of December 24th
when the air temperature was only 30 deg. F. The
frog was consumed over a 2-week period in stages
over multiple night feedings, and was totally
consumed on January 7th, 2012.
Frog
Mouse
Shrew
Box Visitors
The owl boxes do get
the occasional visitor such as gray squirrels and
Carolina wrens during the day and flying squirrels
at night. We have observed unusual behaviors such as
flying squirrels eating cached prey by the screech
owls.
Carolina Wren
Gray Squirrel
Flying Squirrel
Bluebirds Mobbing
Tufted Titmouse Mobbing
Courting and Nesting
 
Courtship Behavior
Roosting Together Laying & Incubating
Eggs
Male Feeding Female
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