Owls–the night hunters—hunt mainly by sound, but by sight as well and they have special sensitive ears and eyes that are ideal for low-light situations.

     Most owls seek seclusion during daylight hours and come out to hunt at night, although some northern species commonly hunt in daylight in the far north where it’s daylight 24 hours a day in summer—owls like the snowy owl, short-eared and hawk owl.

     In the darkness, the owl’s pupils can be dilated almost the width of the whole eye, which allows a lot of light in, much like a camera lens when fully open.The pupils can also contract to a small pinhole when exposed to bright light.

     Owl’s eyes have more receptor cells, which renders them color blind, but gives them superior vision in poor light. Their eyes are situated in front on a flat face, giving them a wider range of vision. They also have binocular vision, giving them the three-dimensional effect necessary for distance determination as they dive on their prey.

     Owl ears are just as amazing. Their facial disks have movable ear flaps under the feathers, which may be present both in front of and behind the opening of the external ear canal. Barn owls in particular, with their large facial disk, have been found to be able to catch mice in totally darkened rooms, meaning they used high frequency sound to catch their prey.

     Another feature that helps them hunt quietly are the soft edged feathers on their wings and body. They can approach their prey and be on them before being detected. Owls are perfectly equipped to hunt quietly at night.

     Here in Virginia our most common owls are the great-horned, barred, barn, long-eared, and screech owls. The little screech owl is only 6-1/2-10 inches in length. It’s the only small owl that has ear-like tufts. The screech owl really doesn’t screech. Its call has been described as a “tremulous wailing” or yodeling sound that descends and lowers in volume at the end. 

     It can be either reddish-brown or brownish-gray in color. This is known as dichromatism and occurs in ruffed grouse as well. A bird of one color can mate with a bird of the other and all their young may turn out the same color, either all gray or all reddish-brown! Yet, the parent birds could be the same color and their young can turn out mixed colors! Occasionally a rare intermediate brown can be produced.

     Screech owls nest in either natural or artificial cavities. They will often choose old woodpecker holes, ledges in old outbuildings, and they take readily to manmade nesting boxes. The nest height can vary from a few feet to as high as 80 feet off the ground! The compartment is lined with grasses, leaves, straw and feathers. About three to nine eggs are laid and, when they hatch, the parent birds defend the downy young vigorously when threatened. Fed on a diet of small rodents and large flying insects, they grow quickly and fledge after about a month.

     Screech owls favor any place that has an abundance of food. It commonly inhabits open woodlands, lakeshores, riverbanks, clearings, old orchards, swamps, and parklands. Their main foods are mice, voles (oriental lily, tulip, and dahlia growers can cheer!), beetles, moths, small reptiles, amphibians, bats, flying squirrels, and even fish. In winter, it’s been known to take fish from open holes in the ice in the north, where fish have come to get oxygen from the surface of a “freeze-out” lake. Because of their nocturnal habits, screech owls are apt to live closer to us than we might think, including living in old buildings in the midst of a city.

     Many screech owls commonly spend the winter in Virginia, with pairs roosting at night in the same cavities they nested in. They also make use of unoccupied or isolated old sheds or garages, as well as squirrel boxes to roost in during the winter. They have enemies themselves and are preyed upon by larger owls, especially the great-horned owl. 

© 2001 Carl “Spike” Knuth, All Rights Reserved