Hey! I’m trying to sleep here!
December 09, 2010
You! Yeah, you.
Can’t an owl get a little privacy?
Sheesh!
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cool gardens in a hot climate™
Hi Pam.
What a character!
Top shot is a beauty Pam, it looks like it is stuck in there. It Has a Clint Eastwood look in the eyes…”Go ahead, make my day”?
ESP.
He’s a fierce little fluffball. Doesn’t he look like a stuffed owl head on a wall in that first shot? But if you look closely you can see his talons gripping the opening. —Pam
omg Pam! These are the most incredible shots. He doesn’t look too worried by whatever you were doing ~ it’s so great he’s still hanging in your box too. I guess I need to come by more often. Do you notice other birds staying away from your garden because of his presence? I always wondered what affect a resident owl would have…
We have Great Horned Owls in our neighborhood but they don’t roost in my trees (not big enough). So I still have lots of bird activity in the baths, at the feeders, etc.
Neither songbirds nor squirrels seem one bit bothered by his presence. They’re aren’t active at the same time, I guess. I have read that screech owls dine on lizards, roaches, moths, and mice.
Here’s what the Owl Shack site has to say about prey: “Screech owls are probably already in your area and have been long before we settled this nation. Thus your songbirds have lived in harmony with these owls for centuries. You won’t be attracting an owl from afar; instead you will finally be able to see exactly where your area owl roosts. Screech owls do not forage during daylight hours (too bright) when your bird feeder is most active with songbirds. By night, that same bird feeder is probably active with rodents and roaches feasting on leftover birdseed. These are some of the very things that screech owls devour!”
The site answers a whole lot of questions about screech owl habits. —Pam
I just want to reach out and pet his darling face.
He’s a cutie! —Pam
I just love this time of year when your resident owl moves in. Isn’t it amazing how they can look like a knot of a tree? Unless they open their eyes a little.
They are indeed masters of camouflage, Lisa. It’s very hard to see them when they’re roosting on branches of the live oaks. My husband is better at spotting them there than I am, but it’s their calls that give them away. —Pam
He’s marvelous Pam, simply marvelous~gail
I’m glad you enjoyed the pics, Gail. —Pam
He is sooo cute, but he looks stuck! LOL.
He looks like a mounted owl head, doesn’t he? So funny, but he fits easily through the hole. —Pam
Wow! Great pictures of such a difficult subject. Thanks to your link I’ve learned there’s a possibility an owl might already be in the neighborhood. We’ll have to try this too.
When perched in the door of the owl box, the screech owl is a remarkably tame subject for photography, we’ve found. It doesn’t seem bothered at all by a photographer walking around calmly beneath the box. —Pam
I don’t know how you got those pics, but what great ones they are.
Glad you enjoyed them, Dee. See my answer to the comment just above for how I got the pics. —Pam
“Dear Santa: Please bring me an owl house with a cute screech owl stuffed in it, JUST LIKE PAM’S!”
I hope Santa is listening and you’ve been good this year! —Pam
We’ve got a screech owl resident, too, but I haven’t caught a picture yet. Hopefully this year we’ll actually have little owlets. Can’t wait — they are so cute! Great pictures, as always, Pam.
Thanks, Meredith. I know you’ll get some great pics sooner or later. You always do! —Pam
Great info Pam! Thanks for posting it. Maybe I’ll look into putting up a box and see if I have any luck…
It’s an easy thing to do, and the payoff is pretty exciting if it works. Good luck attracting an owl! —Pam
i love the blueish, silver color! how cool you can get that close!! i have owl envy, big time!!!
Aren’t they cute? I hope to have more pictures soon. —Pam
Be careful Pam, have you seen “The fourth Kind”?
You might not sleep too well after watching this movie with your owl, looking at you, out there!
Be thankful you are not a resident of Nome, Alaska :-0
Brrr.
ESP.
I haven’t seen it, so I just went online to read the description. Brr indeed! I’m hoping to see Black Swan over the holidays, and I think I will stick to swans rather than owls in my psychological horror entertainment for a while. —Pam