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On Night Patrol: The Screech Owl
| Article
# : |
10409 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1986 |
1,082 Words |
| Author
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Dwight Smith
Dwight Smith is professor of biology at Southern Connecticut
State University, New Haven, Connecticut. |
From dusk to dawn the world belongs to nature's night shift. If you enter this world on a quiet fall or winter night along a country lane, suburban playground, or even a tree-lined city avenue, you may hear the mournful hooting of an owl. The hooting--or, more properly, singing--proclaims the owl's territory in the same way a robin's song tells its neighbors to mind their boundaries.
One of the most distinctive owl "hoots" is the soft, quavering whinny of screech owls. These small owls are widespread in North America. They range from lower Canada southward to Florida and the Gulf Coast in the East, and from Mexico to Alaska on the West Coast. They occupy a wide variety of habitats within this range, including deciduous and evergreen woodlands, cactus deserts, wooded canyons, and the wooded banks of lakes and rivers. They are absent only from parts of prairies where trees or other suitable cavities for nesting and roosting are lacking. Screech owls are among the most adaptable of raptors to human habitats and may be found in old apple orchards, suburban woodlots, and in shade and ornamental trees of town and city streets, parks, and cemeteries.
Although often the most common bird of prey in the regions they inhabit, screech owls are rarely noticed because they are active only during the hours of twilight and darkness. During the day, they roost concealed in tree cavities. The first hint that a screech owl has taken up residence in a neighborhood is the nocturnal singing by which it establishes its territory in preparation for the spring breeding season.
Screech owls are easily recognized because they are the only small North American owl with prominent ear tufts. They have a wingspan of about 18 to 24 inches and average slightly less than half a pound in weight, the female is somewhat larger than the male.
Throughout much of their range, screech owls come in two basic colors, red and gray, although an intermediate brown or chocolate phase is common in parts of the East. The feathers of red, gray, or brown are finely lined and have transverse bars of black. This coloration produces a mottled or zig-zag pattern that enables the screech owl to blend visually with the bark of its favorite roost tree or a backdrop of leaves.
Like all owls, the screech owl's feathers are soft and edged with a lacy fluff. This type of feather, together with its broad wings, enables the owl to fly silently in the night, stalking its prey while in
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