Eastern Screech Owl

On December 26, 2002 the Shelby County Conservation Board was able to get an injured screech owl to use for environmental education purposes in Shelby and Audubon Counties.  In order to keep a live screech owl we needed to obtain both state and federal permits.  The permit process took about three months, but we do have the permits so we were able to get the owl.  The owl will be housed at Nishna Bend Recreation Area’s Nature Learning Center in an indoor cage. 

Screech owls are one of the most common owls found in Iowa.  They are also one of the smallest, standing only eight inches tall, with a twenty-one to twenty-two inch wingspan.  They prefer to live in areas with lots of trees where they can find a hole for nesting.  Male screech owls defend breeding territories.  The males hop, bow, snap their beaks, and give food to females to attract a mate.  If the female likes the display, she will chose a cavity in the male’s territory for breeding.  Screech owls do not build nests.  They form a depression in whatever material is present in the cavity.  The female lays two to seven eggs and incubates them for twenty-six days.  The only time the female leaves the cavity during incubation is at dawn and dusk for feeding.  Screech owls tend to be monogamous and will mate for life.

Like all owls, screech owls are birds of prey.  They feed on insects, reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, and birds.  Screech owls hunt while they are flying.  The use their good senses of sight and hearing to locate their prey and dive down on it.  They use their sharp claws called talons to capture their prey.  Owls do not have teeth so they must swallow their food whole or rip it into chunks.  Their stomachs digest everything they eat except for the fur, feathers, and bones of their prey.  Several hours after they eat, owls regurgitate the fur, feathers, and bones of their food in a ball-like object called an owl pellet. 

The owl that we have is probably a female.  She has been injured (probably hit by a car) and cannot be rehabilitated and released back into the wild.  Her left wing was broken and she was found with the fractures all healed up.  She was very lucky to survive since she cannot fly.  We were able to get the owl from a wildlife rehabilitator since she can't be released again.  The owl is a red phase Easter Screech Owl.  Eastern Screech Owls come in two colors, gray and red.  A six feet by six feet by six feet cage has been constructed for the owl.  It is mostly hardware cloth (screen) for easy viewing.  Inside the cage are branches for perching, a hide box, a large water/bath dish, and a feeding shelf.  The owl eats one to two dead mice or chicks per day.  She has been named Avery because the scientific name of the group of birds is Aves and the place where a bird lives is called an aviary.  She is a permanent fixture in the nature center so stop out and see her.  If you don't see her she may be in her box or take a closer look.  She will stretch herself out and put up her "ear tufts" to look like a branch.