Eastern Screech Owls

A couple days ago my grandfather called my mother, saying that he had something in his tree. He wasn't sure what it was and thought it might be a cat. After some investigation my mother found it to be a eastern screech owl.

The next day I did some investigation of my own and managed to capture a couple pictures of this red morph eastern screech owl in its hole.

At first he wouldn't come out, but with some calls I managed to get him to peek his head out for me.

They are a lot smaller than I thought. I've herd them before but never seen one, especially this close.

Kind of a sinister look here.

Maybe it does look like a cat from a distance.

Just barely make him out in this one.

This morning I went back over to my grandfathers to see if I could see him again when to my amazement, a foot bellow the hole was another eastern screech owl, gray morph! I can only assume they are a breeding pair, and hopefully they will use this hole as a nest! It's been several years since I've heard them in this area.

If I hadn't been looking for the red one, I probably would never had spotted this one. They blend in so well!