Update on This Season's Western Screech Owls

Featuring the Owl family on my back porch nest box

I’ve had Western Screech Owls successfully nesting in my yard for some time now. There was a gap of a few years until I placed nest boxes directly on my back porch facing the kitchen windows (for my viewing ease!). This is the third year in a row that I’ve had the Owls use my newest next box. This cell phone photo shows the view from my kitchen door. I have an older phone so the photo quality isn’t the sharpest but you can tell what’s going on.

From the start of the year, I had heard the owls during the night and had seen what I was certain was the female in the nest box. For about a month, I would regularly see her stick her head out of the box in the late afternoon and around sunset time. Her behavior began to change a few weeks ago. The first change was not seeing her at the opening to the nest box before sunset. Then I began hearing one of the Owls calling softly during the night with a call that differed from the typical call in winter. On March 25, I went outside well after dark and located the male owl on a cholla snag. He was calling for some time while holding what once was a Kangaroo Rat (see its tail for reference). Then he flew off into the desert. His mate had not responded to him. Perhaps she wasn’t hungry yet.

A few days prior to that photo, on Saturday March 21st, Hawk Watch International began their monitoring of the nest box. This is part of ongoing research that Hawk Watch has been doing for years in Southern Arizona. Once weekly, they insert a small camera into the box opening and take a two second video. This quick and smooth process provides them a look into the nesting process. The information is placed into their database for the research. This first look in my nest box showed the female Western Screech Owl looking up at the camera as she tucks into the corner of her nest. Now watch how her behavior changed over the following two weeks.

One week later, on March 28, and now mama Owl is spread out and filling up the entire bottom of the nest box. She looks like she is hiding or protecting something! By the way, during this breeding season, the male Western Screech Owl does not stay in the nest box. He is in a nearby cavity where he can communicate with the female Owl and perhaps even have a direct line of sight on the nest box.

In the meantime, a few times per night I will hear one of the two owls calling to the other. It could be either one of the owls calling. The male is doing the hunting and provisioning for the female. The female may be in or out of the box but she will be calling to him, asking where her next meal is. The photo below was taken at 2:41 AM on April 1.

The following Saturday, on April 4th, the Hawk Watch volunteer saw three eggs!! Two can be seen in this screenshot from the video.

In the meantime, if I am up late, or up during the night, or if I get up early, I often hear one of the owls calling. A search outside may or may not find one of the Owls. On April 5, at 7:48 PM, I heard and saw what I believe was the female calling for the male, telling him to get to work.

This Owl was not hunting. She was definitely looking for her partner.

I am excited that my “Owl-TV” has returned for another season. Just listening to the birds is enjoyable but I’m hoping to witness more behavior over the next two months. Western Screech Owls incubate their eggs for approximately 30 days, so I expect the eggs to hatch around the end of April or beginning of May. The young Owlets then fledge, or leave the nest, about 4 or 5 weeks later.