Click any photo to enlarge

Saturday, March 30, 2013

CMO Screech-Owl history

Most of you probably aren't interested in this, but for anyone who is, here are the data on W. Screech-Owl sightings at the oasis (keep in mind the oasis didn't get planted until 1996):

Oct 1997, one time
Oct 2002, one week
Feb 2005, one time
Jun 2005, one time
Apr 2006, one time
Oct 2006, one time
Feb 2007, one time
Mar 2008, one time
Feb 2009, one time
Mar 2009, one time
Feb 2013, one time
Mar 2013, three weeks

I'm sure screech-owls have visited much more often, but these are the only sightings I have documented. You can see this one has been here the longest I've ever had one. I imagine it has been here ever since I first heard it on Feb 17. I heard it in the courtyard during that night. Mostly it stays at the oasis and can't be heard from the house a block away, and I hadn't visited the oasis at night during the interim. It may be nesting here for the first time ever. One has been observed and photographed in 3 different nest boxes on three different evenings at the oasis, whether the same individual or two different individuals. Here is the first screech-owl photo taken at the oasis. Chris Hortness snapped this on the evening of Mar 9. The two pictures I posted recently are both taken in different nest boxes, so now 3 boxes are depicted with a screech-owl in them.


































I have two Mexican Buckeye trees blooming side by side and the coloring is quite different. These photos were taken at the same time in the same light.




2 comments:

  1. Just wanted to thank you for your blog and all your efforts at CMO. I had a recent close encounter with a screech owl and it was fun. A one-time only event, I guess. It was being followed by a larger owl and rested on my neighbor's rooftop a short while. Regards, Andy

    ReplyDelete
  2. He/she's a beauty!
    Terri

    ReplyDelete