A Screech Within Reach

Sorry about that title, but there aren’t very many words that rhyme with “owl,” and Foul Owl on the Prowl has already been taken.

A few years ago, Debbie came to the conclusion that the one thing that Casa Fire Ant was missing to make it a perfect place to live was an owl box. I couldn’t argue with that, especially since it made somewhat more fiscal sense than my suggestion of a Lamborghini Huracán.

She ordered one suitable for a screech owl (in our neck of the woods that would be an Eastern screech-owl [Megascops asio]; apparently, the hyphen is required for strictly accurate identification) and within a couple of weeks I found myself perched precariously near the top of my 24′ extension ladder, mounting the wooden box to a live oak on the west side of our property.

A couple of years passed, and the only action the owl box saw was the occasional visit from a curious squirrel. We were perplexed…perturbed…downtrodden…forlorn </thesaurus>. Were we not welcoming enough? Was our wooden box somehow lacking in owlish comforts?

We decided that the western exposure was to blame, plus it overlooked the golf course (150 yards away, but still…you know how golfer are). Perhaps a different outlook, or lookout, was called for. So, out came the extension ladder, down came the owl box, and over went the extension ladder to a pecan tree next to the creek behind our house. The climb to this mounting spot was even more treacherous than the first location, but I finally got the box situated without hardly dying at all.

Guess what? It made absolutely no difference to the local owl population. It remained vacant and we eventually gave up on having an owl to call our own…until last Saturday.

I was in the office shortly after lunch when I heard Debbie open the front door and immediately yell, “come quick and bring your phone!” I obeyed and this is what she had found standing next to the bench on the front porch:

I realize it’s impossible to gauge the size of the bird from this photo. In reality, it’s only about 6″ or 8″ tall (although I haven’t been able to put a yardstick next to it to be sure). It didn’t seem perturbed by our presence, only a bit suspicious. We took the requisite quota of photos, closed the door, and contemplated the implications of our new visitor.

A short time later, I was back in the office when I heard the front door open, immediately followed by a loud yelp. Debbie had opened the door and was startled to find the owl perching at her feet on the threshold of the door:

Again, it wasn’t agitated, and it flew away a bit later. We were happy to have had these encounters and hoped it was heading to a safe place to roost.

Sunday rolled around and we had made plans to go dancing and then to dinner with friends. When they arrived to pick us up, we opened the door to greet them, and this is the scene we found:

We had told them about our avian visitor and Audrey in particular was thrilled at the opportunity to see and photograph it, as she’s always had an interest in owls. Once I took this photograph, I told them we would leave through the garage door so as not to disturb the owl, and I closed the door. Just as we started to head to the garage, we heard a little scream and I told Debbie that we could go ahead and go out the front door, as I suspected the owl had flown away in the only direction open to it: straight at our friends.

Sure enough, Audrey reported that “it flew right at my head!” We shared a laugh and then left for the afternoon dance. We got home shortly after 7:00 p.m. and the owl was still gone. But a half hour later, we opened the door and sure enough…

At this point, we decided that the owl had, for whatever reasons, found a safe place to lay low. It didn’t appear sick or injured, and it was able to fly. We had also started wondering if the owl was the reason we were not seeing lizards in our courtyard anymore. We’ve always had a nice population of anoles, Texas spiny lizards, and racerunners and they had become mysteriously absent over the past few days. I don’t know if the owl was eating them, or if they were just hiding out while it was around, but it seemed to be a suspicious coincidence.

In any event, we were going to let this play out and see what happened.

The behavioral pattern repeated itself today. The owl leaves sometime around nightfall and returns early-to-mid afternoon. I finally decided to give ChatGPT an opportunity to take a guess at what’s going on, and its suggestions make sense.

The bird appears to be a juvenile — the equivalent of a teenager — and, according to the A.I., it’s still early in the process of learning to be an owl. Adult screech owls are nocturnal creatures, rarely seen during the day, but the juveniles are not so set in their ways yet. It also takes them a while to find a proper roost (do they have a handbook or checklist to go by…perhaps access to a Multiple Listing Service?) and so they’ll look for a safe, sheltered spot and that won’t necessarily be in a tree. That all matches up with what we’re observing.

Of course, the bird could be injured or sick, but as I said above, it’s not displaying any of the characteristics that would indicate that’s the case. It can fly; it’s not unsteady on its feet; it’s not wheezing; there’s no obvious signs of parasites or a discharge from its eyes or nostrils. Its eyes look healthy; a sick bird would likely have drooping or half-closed eyes. So that’s the good news.

ChatGPT also helped us confirm that this is a juvenile owl. It pointed out that adult owls are more likely to squint in the daylight, while the young birds are wide-eyed as they take in the scenery. Other indicators of age include a boldness (or less willingness to flee) because they haven’t fully developed their sensitivity to the presence of possible predators. Their ear tufts are softer and less defined, as is their overall plumage.

Okay, so we’ve got a teenaged screech owl on our property for some indeterminate time. We’re willing to live and let live until it gets its drivers license and a job at a local fast food restaurant, but our patience will quickly wear out if it keeps its room as messy as we found it this evening:

I’ll keep you posted on how this all plays out. ChatGPT was helpful in suggesting ways to gently make our porch a less accommodating and comfortable place to roost, so we’ve got that in our hip pocket if the bird wears out its welcome. But for now…I guess it’s pretty cool. I just wish I’d known how this could work out before I got up on that ladder.

Closing Shot