Eastern Screech-Owl

The Eastern Screech-Owl is a small, common owl of eastern North America, often found even in wooded suburbs and parks, roosting quietly by day in tree cavities or dense foliage. Despite its name, its most familiar call is a descending whinny or a soft trill, not a screech.

It occurs in two distinct color morphs - grey and rufous (red) - which can occur in the same population regardless of habitat, along with a rare intermediate brown morph.

Its small size and finely patterned plumage give strong camouflage against tree bark when roosting, making it easy to overlook despite being fairly common.

Recognizing the feathers

• Body feathers show fine, complex mottling and vertical streaking over a grey or rufous ground - either morph shows the same bark-like pattern, just in different base colors.
• Ear-tuft feathers are short but distinct, present in this species unlike some other small owls.
• Flight feathers are small and soft-fringed, appropriately scaled to this owl's diminutive size.
• Facial disc feathers are pale with a darker rim.

Similar species

• Nearly identical in size and pattern to the Western and Whiskered Screech-Owls; range is the most reliable way to separate them, since Eastern Screech-Owl occurs only in eastern North America while the other two occur farther west.

Plumage

Occurs in grey and rufous (red) morphs, both finely mottled and streaked to resemble bark; a rarer intermediate brown morph also occurs. Underparts show vertical streaking crossed by fine barring.

Sexes look alike; juveniles show a softer, more finely barred down-plumage before molting into the adult cryptic pattern.

Molt occurs gradually over summer and fall.

Habitat & range

Widespread across eastern North America, from southern Canada through the eastern and central United States, in deciduous and mixed woodland, parks, and wooded suburbs with mature trees offering cavities for roosting and nesting.

It is largely non-migratory, holding stable year-round territories.

Behavior & field notes

A nocturnal hunter of insects, small mammals, and occasionally small birds or amphibians, often hunting from a low perch near woodland edges.

Its call is a distinctive descending whinny or a soft, even trill, quite different from the hoots of larger owls.

A small, finely mottled grey or rufous body feather with short ear-tuft feathers, found in eastern deciduous woodland or a wooded suburb, is consistent with this species.