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| MEASUREMENTS: The Eastern Screech-owl has an average body length of 7 - 9 inches, a wingspan of 18 - 24 inches, and weighs 5 - 9 ounces. The Eastern Screech-owl is slightly smaller than the Western Screech-owl. |
 HABITAT: This owl is found in wooded areas from 3000 feet to river valleys and city parks. The Eastern Screech-owl occupies the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and northeastern Mexico. |
| DIET: The Eastern Screech-owl has a diet consisting mainly of insects, small mammals, birds, crayfish, and earthworms. Their hunting strategy is to survey prey from a perched position then swoop down to catch the prey, or forage while walking along the ground. |
| REPRODUCTION: The Eastern Screech-Owl nests in natural tree cavities, old woodpecker holes, or man-made nest boxes. The female lays 3 - 7 eggs that are incubated for 26 days. Both parents feed the young owls. The owlets will leave the nest in about 25 - 27 days, but will be tended by the parents for another 5 - 6 weeks. Screech-owls can reproduce at 1 year of age. |
| NAME DERIVATION: The scientific name comes from the Latin words otus, meaning a kind of owl with long “ear” feathers, and asio, a word used by the Greek philosopher Pliny, to specify a horned owl. The common name indicates the bird’s range in North America. Eastern Screech-Owls have also been known as Common Screech-Owl, Little Owl, Scritch Owl, Little Horned Owl, Little Grey Owl, and Red Owl. |
INTERESTING FACTS:
- The Eastern Screech-Owl’s color ranges from gray to brown to reddish. The chicks in a nest may be different colors.
- Dead tree snags are important to cavity nesters like screech-owls. In the United States, there are about 85 species of birds and 45 species of mammals that use natural tree cavities as nests and roosts.
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