American Kestrel

American Kestrel

Charadriusvociferus

Photographed in the wild,

Marco Island, FL    Mar 2012

Nassau Bahamas    Dec 2015

North America’s smallest falcon, the kestrel packs a predator’s fierce intensity into its small body. It's one of the most colorful of all raptors: the male’s slate-blue head and wings contrast elegantly with his rusty-red back and tail; the female has the same warm reddish on her wings, back, and tail.

 Hunting for insects and other small prey in open territory, kestrels perch on wires or poles, or hover facing into the wind, flapping and adjusting their long tails to stay in place. Kestrels are declining in parts of their range.

Return to Misc, Raptors

Raptors-Misc

American Kestrel                Loggerhead Shrike                   Merlin Falcon                   Northern Harrier

          Osprey                   SwallowTail Kite

Pueo Owl

(Short-Eared) Pueo Owl 

Asio Flammeus

Photographed in the wild,

Saddle Rd, Big Island Hawaii       Apr 2014

Not all owls construct lofty nests! Like the Hawaiian short-eared owl who prefers to nest on the ground. If predators venture too close to the nest and young, both the male and female will scream, hiss, and bark at the intruder while often faking a broken wing as a diversion.

Pueo the Protector: The Hawaiian owl is an ancestral spirit in Hawaiian culture and seen as a family protector. Hawaiian legends focus on one such tale, entitled “The Battle of the Owls,” a man robbed an owl’s nest of her eggs; after being haunted by the Pueo, the man returned the owl’s eggs to the nest, and as an apology, he built a shrine to the bird. The ruling human chieftain saw the shrine as an act of defiance and sentenced the man to death. As he was about to die, the pueo gathered her fellow owls and flew to the human village; there were so many owls that the skies were darkened by their wings, and the chief revoked his decision and spared the man’s life.

Return to OWLs

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

 Bubo scandiacus

Photographed at Toronto Zoo, Toronto, Canada   Sept 2011

One of the heaviest of North American owls, also known in North America as the Arctic Owl, Great White Owl or Harfang. The Snowy Owl is the official bird of Quebec.

A dense layer of down, overlaid with thick feathering, insulates the Snowy Owl’s entire body, including the legs and toes, and enables the bird to maintain a body temperature of 38 to 40°C, even when the air temperature reaches -50°C.

Although fast enough to capture ducks on the wing, the Snowy Owl prefers small mammals as prey. In the Arctic, it may eat arctic hares, ptarmigan, foxes, or seabirds when available, but lemmings are its primary prey.

Return to OWLs

Spectacled Owl

Spectacled Owl 

Pulsatrixperspicillata

Photographed at

Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Orlando, FL    Mar 2011

An unsociable bird that gets its name from its white markings around his eyes. A nocturnal bird whose activities normally begin after dusk and will continue to dawn. They roost singly by day in trees with dense foliage and become very vocal on calm, moonlit nights.

Spectacled Owls nest in tree hollows and lay 1-2 eggs, which are incubated by the female for about 5 weeks. Chicks leave the nest for surrounding branches at about 5-6 weeks, well before they can fly, but depend on their parents for up to a year once fledged.

When hunting it generally perches on an open branch, leaning forward scanning for prey and striking with surprising agility with a swift pounce to the ground or agile swoop to snatch prey from vegetation. Primarily feeds on small mammals up to the size of opossums, skunks and rabbits. 

Return to OWLs

Jamaican Owl

Jamaican Owl 

(Pseudoscops grammicus)

Photographed in Ochos Rios, Jamaica Nov 2015

The Jamaican Owl is a unique owl endemic to the island of Jamaica and is the only species in the genus Pseudoscops. An unmistakable bird, with jet-black eyes, conspicuous ear-tufts, and a rufous overall coloration, the Jamaican Owl can be found in open woodland, forest edge, open parkland, and even gardens. Considering its size, it specializes in surprisingly small prey, and feeds mainly on insects, especially beetles, but will also feed on lizards, tree frogs and small rodents.

The Jamaican Owl is also common along with the Barn owl. But the population is slowly dropping, and yet not classified as endangered.

Return to OWLs

Eurasian Eagle Owl

Eurasian Eagle Owl

Bubo bubo

Photographed at

Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Orlando, FL     Mar 2011

This is a very large owl with prominent ear tufts and vivid orange eyes. Birds become paler from north to south in Asia Minor and Middle East. Size decreases East to West, and North to South.

The Eurasian Eagle-Owl’s population declined significantly during the first half of the last century through persecution, disease, and poisoning. As a result of protection, re-introduction programs, and a change in food abundance, this owl’s population is recovering in Europe.

An eagle-owl’s flight is powerful and fast with shallow wing beats and long, fast glides. This owl will also soar on updrafts. This type of flight is similar to that of soaring hawks like the Red-tailed Hawk.

Return to OWLs

Screech Owl-W

(Western Screech Owl )

 Megascopskennicottii

Photographed in the wild, Phoenix, AZ       Apr 2009

The two hatchlings in the photo were removed (after I took the picture) and placed in a safier area because they became skidish from people congrigating below the palm tree in front of the Hotel.

A common small owl of the West, the Western Screech-Owl can be found in urban lower elevations as well as wild lands.  The Western Screech Owl is likely to be confused with the Eastern Screech Owl These Owls can be distinguished by bill colour, the Eastern have gray-green bills while Western have gray to black bills) and different calls.

Occasionally takes prey larger than itself, including cottontail rabbits and Mallards.

They are Nocturnal, with their activity generally beginning 20 to 30 minutes after sunset. Flight is noiseless with soft wing beats and gliding. Will become motionless if disturbed at roost, and can sometimes be caught by hand in this state. This owl is very aggressive when defending a nest site, and may attack humans.

Return to OWLs

Screech Owl-E

Eastern Screech Owl

(Megascopsasio)

Photographed at

Phoenix Zoo, Phoenix, AZ          Apr 2009

Discovery Cove, Orlando, FL      Mar 2016

The Eastern Screech-Owl is found in nearly every habitat throughout the eastern United States and southern Canada. It is common in urban as well as rural areas and readily nests in nest boxes.

The Eastern Screech-Owl eats a variety of small animals. Eastern Screech-Owl pairs usually are monogamous and remain together for life. Some males, however, will mate with two different females. The second female may evict the first female, lay her own eggs in the nest, and incubate both clutches.

The trilling song on one pitch, sometimes known as the Bounce Song, is used by members of a pair or a family to keep in contact. The male will trill to advertise a nest site, court the female, and when arriving at a nest with food. The descending Whinny is used in territory defence. The songs usually are uttered separately, but sometimes are heard together.

Return to OWLs

Burrowing Owl

 Burrowing Owl

 (Athenecunicularia)

Photographed in

Cape Coral, FL       Apr 2006

Tigertail Beach, Marco, FL     Mar 2013

Cape Coral has the highest concentration of Burrowing Owls in the United States.

The Burrowing Owl stands nine inches tall and weighs in at about four ounces, but has long legs. The Burrowing Owl digs its home in the white sandy soil. Their extensive tunnels can house up to four to six. The female will lay about six to eight eggs, which takes a month to hatch. The young will stay in the burrows for about forty-two days.

You can see the owl standing watch over the burrow like the one in the picture. This picture was taken on a side road about six to eight feet in from the street.

On these empty lots, any construction would be halted and roped off around the nesting area. A “T shaped” perch is placed beside the nest and left till after the owls have left. It is illegal to disturb these nesting sites.

2006 Movie

The film is about a group of children trying to save a burrowing owl habitat from destruction. The habitat is located on the intended construction site of a pancake house. The developer of the project intends to proceed regardless of the environmental damage it would cause. Hoot features live burrowing owls and music by Jimmy Buffett. Buffett is also listed as a co-producer, and he played the role of Mr. Ryan, the science teacher.

Return to OWLs

Barred Owl

Barred Owl

Strix Varia

 Photographed in the wild, Kissimmee, FL     Mar 2016

The Barred Owl’s hooting call, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?” is a classic sound of old forests and treed swamps. But this attractive owl, with soulful brown eyes and brown-and-white-striped plumage, can also pass completely unnoticed as it flies noiselessly through the dense canopy or snoozes on a tree limb. Originally a bird of the east, during the twentieth century it spread through the Pacific Northwest and southward into California.

The adult is 16–25 in long with a 38–49 in wingspan. Weight in this species is 1.10 to 2.31 lb. It has a pale face with dark rings around the eyes, a yellow beak and brown eyes. It is the only typical owl of the eastern Americas which has brown eyes; all others have yellow eyes.

John James Audubon illustrated the barred owl in Birds of America (published, London 1827-38) as Plate 46 where it is shown threatening a grey squirrel just like this picture here. Note the squirrel in the bottom left.

Return to OWLs

Boobook

 Southern Boobook Owl

(Ninox novaeseelandiae)

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Canada     Feb 2012

These are the smallest and most common owls in Australia and found all around Australia, from forests to desert regions, but need hollows in trees to nest.

They feed on small mammals like mice, small birds, frogs and lizards, but they also eat a lot of insects.

At night, an owl's eyes appear to get bigger to let in the most light and in the daytime the pupil will be close more for the owl to see clearly.

To help them catch their prey, owls have very soft feathers on their wings so that they can't be heard when they are flying. To make them soft, the edges of the wings are separated into little 'hairy' strands. Owls also depend on their hearing to find their meals.

Return to OWLs

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

(Tytoalba)

Photographed at Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ        Apr 2010

The Barn Owl is one of the most widely distributed birds in the world, found on all continents except Antarctica, and on many oceanic islands as well. It has been introduced by people to some of the few places it did not already occur, namely Hawaii, the Seychelles Islands, and Lord Howe Island.

The Barn Owl is one of the few bird species with the female more colourful than the male. The female has a more reddish chest that is heavily spotted. The spots may signal to a potential mate the quality of the female. Heavily spotted females get fewer parasitic flies and may be more resistant to parasites and diseases.

The Barn Owl has excellent low-light vision, and can easily find prey at night by sight. But its ability to locate prey by sound alone is the best of any animal that has ever been tested. It can catch mice in complete darkness in the lab, or hidden by vegetation or snow out in the real world.

Return to OWLs