Western Screech Owls — A Family Portrait

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My friend Sam has a family of Western Screech Owls residing in his yard. I recently went to his house in order to make a family portrait. Here it is, depicting Mom (lower left of the image) plus four of her offspring, roosting together under the roof of Sam’s carport. A fifth youngster and Dad were elsewhere when I made this image.

Screech Owls nest in cavities — in this case, a nesting box. The youngsters (“owlets”) remain in the box with their mother for a bit more than a month after they hatch. When they leave their nest, the owlets are inept fliers at first — barely able to get airborne. They frequently roost in close proximity to the nest and each other for a week or two as their flight muscles and flying skills strengthen. An adult owl will often perch with or very close to the owlets for protection and the adults will continue to feed their offspring for some weeks after they fledge.

Many of you will recall that I have a Screech Owl nest box in our yard that was inhabited by an owl in late winter and early spring. I had hoped that a female owl was using the box to raise her offspring. Apparently, that was not the case — all signs of activity ceased about a month ago and I have not heard nor seen a Screech Owl on or near our property since. I think that it’s possible that the owl that occupied our box was a male Screech Owl and that his mate was occupying a cavity somewhere nearby. Male and female Screech Owls will inhabit separate cavities when the female is sitting on eggs and raising the owlets. The owl in our yard may have abandoned our box once the owlets had fledged. Well, there’s always next year.

Image made with a Canon R5, Canon RF 100-500mm f4.5=7.1 IS L zoom lens, supported by monopod, M setting (auto ISO), ISO 3200, f5.6 @ 1/100.

birds nature owls photography western-screech-owls wildlife