How to attract screech owls to your woodland wildlife gardens
What do screech-owls sound like? Where do they live?
A screech owl peers out of its home in our garden in the evening just as the sun sets.
I know they’re here. I’ve heard them. Many times.
And now, a few years later, I’ve finally seen one in the garden. I suspect they’ve been around all this time but they are not all that easy to see. Sundown and sunset are the most likely times to see them, but even then their natural camouflage makes them almost impossible to spot.
Plenty of nights when I take our dog Holly out before bedtime, we’ve heard them calling out – screeching, if you will. It’s a little eerie at times when you are not expecting it, but it’s music to my ears now that I can identify the call. (Link to screech owl vocalizing.)
It’s not exactly a screech, more a whinny like a horse and trilling, but it could be mistaken for a Screech if you’re alone in the middle of the night in a forest.
Eastern Screech owls are not large.
Many people even mistake the robin-sized nocturnal woodland owl with short ear-tufts and yellow eyes, for fledgling Great Horned owls when they notice them in their neighbourhood. Not that they are easy to notice in the first place. Not only do they blend into the forest, their nocturnal habits make them a rare sighting if you are not making a conscious effort to find them.
These small owls, however, can be more common in your neighbourhood than most may realize.
Screech owls are wonderful little birds to have in your yard. By putting up a specialized house for them, you may be able to attract them into your yard. In these images you can see both the red and grey versions of the owls.
Where do screech owls live?
The Eastern Screech Owl, a common species found east of the Rockies, can be spotted in a variety of habitats including woods, suburbs, and parks. These adaptable birds are not picky when it comes to their living arrangements and can even be found nesting in larger backyard nest boxes.
Their ability to blend seamlessly into their surroundings makes them difficult to spot during the day, so it’s best to listen for their distinctive calls at night.
Geographically, the Eastern Screech Owl’s range extends from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast, covering a vast area from southern Canada down to Florida and southern Texas.
In fact, these adorable little nightbirds are quite common throughout Eastern United States as far south as Florida, including parts of southern and central Ontario into Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
One of our screech owl boxes installed on a mature pine just waiting for its first homeowners.
Although these little guys are still widespread and fairly common, they are gradually declining in parts of their range. If there is good news in climate change, it is that the Screech owl is slowly expanding its range farther into Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan and even into Alberta.
In Canada, this species is a year-round resident, with the majority of the population concentrated in southern Ontario.
Whether it’s in the dense woods, the quiet suburbs, or the bustling parks, the Eastern Screech-Owl has managed to adapt and thrive in a wide range of environments. So keep your eyes peeled and your ears tuned in as you never know when you might catch a glimpse or hear the haunting call of these elusive birds.
The North American Breeding Bird Survey estimated that between 1966 and 2015, the number of Screech owls increased in Canada, but declined in the United States. But of the estimated 900,000 global breeding population, 95 per cent live in the U.S., 4 per cent in Mexico and a mere 1 per cent in Canada.
Cool facts about Screech Owls
Screech Owls are the smallest owls in North America
In some parts of the U.S. including Texas, Screech owls use small blind snakes to keep their nests free of insects while they are raising their young. A study showed that owls that brought these small snakes (more like a worm than a snake) into the nesting area had fewer insects like ants, termites or larvae. Researchers found that the snakes proved beneficial to the young owls who were found to have fewer health problems and a better chance of survival. (Click here if you want more information about the collaboration between the owls and snakes.)
The tips of flight feathers of the Screech Owl are serrated and, as a result, their flight is almost silent and allows them to swoop down on unsuspecting prey.
Screech owls have such an acute sense of hearing they can find small mammals such as mice under very heavy snow or vegetation. This makes them successful hunters in all seasons.
Their large eyes give them excellent eye sight at night, but because of the position in the front of their heads they are able to move their heads 270 degrees in either direction. This gives them the ability to see in an almost complete 360 degrees.
During the day, Screech owls conceal themselves in trees, their plumage camouflaging them against the bark. If they feel extremely threatened, they will make themselves appear very thin, squint their eyes and sway back and forth to imitate the natural movements of a branch in the wind.
Owls represent wisdom in early Indian folklore
These owls were considered protectors in ancient Greece mythology and accompanied Greek armies to war.
If you are looking for Screech Owls, natural woodlands with an open understory are an excellent place to start, and a woodland garden rich in native plants and trees can be the perfect spot for a couple of screech owls to call home.
The abundance of native plants and trees will help attract insects which form a large part of the Screech owls’ prey made up of small mammals, birds and reptiles.
You’ll also find Screech owls in the small woodlots around farms where the hunting is good for field mice – one of their favourite prey.
They generally favour deciduous or mixed woods with plenty of open ground for hunting. Wooded areas along streams and rivers also provide prime habitats for these owls. Suburban yards and city parks can be ideal places for them to take up residence provided there are large trees and nesting cavities.
Unfortunately, homeowners remove many of the owls’ natural nesting holes when they remove dead snags from their yards. Thankfully, nesting boxes have taken over where natural nesting holes have been removed.
Nesting boxes are said to be part of their success story and expansion of the owls’ range.
I recently picked up two large home-made boxes (see photo above) which have been installed about 15 feet up in two trees in our woodland garden. One of the boxes found a home in our mature Austrian Pine.
Owl boxes, although on the large side compared to traditional blue bird boxes, are available at some specialized wild bird stores as well as through Amazon. JCs wildlife screech owl box is even featured in this you tube video and comes highly recommended.
It’s never too early to get your boxes out to give the owls an opportunity to discover them.
Screech owls are secondary inhabitants of nesting sites so they are always on the lookout for a new home.
They can often be found nesting in former woodpecker or squirrel tree cavities. Breeding season for Eastern Screech Owls is generally around mid April, but it can range from mid March through to mid May.
The elaborate courtship ritual begins with the male enticing the female by calling from a variety of branches until they are close. This is followed by what can only be described as a scene out of a 1980s disco hall with the male bobbing and swivelling his head and entire body as he slowly winks at the female. If the female ignores him he takes his dance moves to an even higher level, if she accepts, they touch bills and begin preening each other. Pairs pretty much mate for life.
When do Screech owls nest
The nestling period is between 26-30 days and incubation can be between 27-34 days. The hatchlings are born with eyes closed and covered in white down.
When on the nest, the female remains in the nest except for brief excursions at dawn and dusk.
The male provides the female and nestlings with all the food, while the female rips and tears it into small bits for the babies.
Both parents provide food for young owls, who leave the nest about 4 weeks after hatching.
Their diets vary from small animals, including birds and mammals as well as earthworms, insects, and pond inhabitants like tadpoles, frogs and lizards where available. Rats, mice and squirrels, moles and even rabbits are on their lists as well a birds including birds as large as jays, grouse doves and woodpeckers. They’ve even been known to cache extra food in tree holes, when prey is plentiful in the area.
Adults tend to remain near their breeding areas year-round, where the males defend small territories around nest sites. Breeding territories range from 4 to 6 hectares (10-15 acres in wooded suburban areas. Territories are much larger (200 acres) in open rural areas.
Captive Screech owls can live up to 20 years, while wild birds live much shorter lives. Predators include larger owls such as the Great Horned Owl, minks, weasels, raccoons, skunks, snakes, crows and Blue Jays.
Where to install your owl nest box
The nesting boxes need to be installed in large mature trees between 6-30 feet high. They should be mounted in an area that affords a clear flight path in and out of the box as well as nearby branches where the fledglings can make their way to after immediately leaving the nest. Mounting the box in a southerly direction is ideal but an easterly or western exposure has also proven successful. A northern exposure is not advised.
It helps to have an uncluttered understory for the owls to successfully hunt.
Author Profile: Vic MacBournie is a former journalist and author/owner of the award-winning website Ferns & Feathers. He writes about his woodland wildlife garden that he has created over the past 25 years and enjoys sharing his garden photography with readers.