Wild Wednesday, The Eastern Screech Owl

The Eastern Screech Owl comes in two colors, Grey and Red. The Grey is shown here. I will highlight the red variety next week. We've heard the call of the Screech Owl for years, I always thought it was an unusual frog sounding off in the night. It wasn't until we attended the Owl Nights event at the Howell Nature Center that I realized that sound was in fact an owl. It sounds like a wallowing noise that starts high then drops lower. For more information on the Howell Nature Center visit the Fun Stuff and Good Reads page.

One night when I was little we turned on the light to our deck and there were two Screech Owls, red and gray curled up together in the crook of a tree. They were about 15 feet from us.

It is amazing how camouflaged this bird is. It's feathers are the exact same color as the graying tree bark, and the light barring on the feathers looks just like lichen. It almost has a powdery quality, unlike shimmering song birds its feathers are matte.

All of the images that appear on Iron Oaks Farm Blog were taken by Jennifer or Zach Sartell (unless otherwise noted) and are available for purchase. Please contact JenniferAnnMurphy@yahoo.com for details.