Eastern Screech-Owl
Megascops asio
Summary 5
The eastern screech owl or eastern screech-owl (Megascops asio) is a small owl that is relatively common in Eastern North America, from Mexico to Canada. This species is native to most wooded environments of its distribution, and more so than any other owl in its range, has adapted well to manmade development, although it frequently avoids detection due to its strictly nocturnal habits.
Details 6
Description: Plumage ranges from gray to reddish brown. Short ear tufts and yellow tip of bill. 10 in head to tail.
Found in park: common below 4000ft and during March- April
Habitat: deciduous and mixed woodlands. Nests in dead snags of trees
Status: common at night
Habitat 7
Eastern screech owls inhabit open mixed woodlands, deciduous forests, parklands, wooded suburban areas, riparian woods along streams and wetlands (especially in drier areas), mature orchards, and woodlands near marshes, meadows, and fields. They try to avoid areas known to have regular activity of larger owls, especially great horned owls (Bubo virginianus). Their ability to live in heavily developed areas outranks even the great horned and certainly the barred owl (Strix varia); screech owls also are considerably more successful in the face of urbanization than barn owls (Tyto alba) following the conversion of what was once farmland. Due to the introduction of open woodland and cultivated strips in the Great Plains, the range of eastern screech owls there has expanded. Eastern screech owls have been reported living and nesting in spots such as along the border of a busy highway and on the top of a street light in the middle of a busy town square. They often nest in trees in neighborhoods and urban yards inhabited by humans. In such urban environments, they often meet their dietary needs via introduced species that live close to man such as house sparrows (Passer domesticus) and house mice (Mus musculus). They also consume anole lizards and large insects such as cicadas. They occupy the greatest range of habitats of any owl east of the Rockies. Eastern screech owls roost mainly in natural cavities in large trees, including cavities open to the sky during dry weather. In suburban and rural areas, they may roost in manmade locations such as behind loose boards on buildings, in boxcars, or on water tanks. They also roost in dense foliage of trees, usually on a branch next to the trunk, or in dense, scrubby brush. The distribution of the species is largely concurrent with the distribution of eastern deciduous woodlands, probably discontinuing at the Rocky Mountains in the west and in northern Mexico in the south due to the occupation of similar niches by other screech owls and discontinuing at the start of true boreal forest because of the occupation of a similar niche by other small owls (especially boreal owls (Aegolius funereus). Eastern screech owls may be found from sea level up to 1,400 m (4,600 ft) in elevation in the eastern Rocky Mountains and up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in the eastern Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains, although their altitudinal limits in the Appalachian Mountains, near the heart of their distribution, is not currently known.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Michael Hodge, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/27142448@N00/2219092451
- (c) Anthony Goddard, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7394/9032692845_0636211b10_o.jpg
- (c) Jeri Tooley, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Jeri Tooley
- (c) Kala Murphy King, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), uploaded by Kala Murphy King
- Adapted by Will Kuhn from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megascops_asio
- (c) elmaddi, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/631425
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_screech_owl
