Whiskered Screech-Owl

There’s something about the small owls, that combination of ferocity and slight ridiculousness, that makes seeing one the highlight of any birding day. One of the commonest here in southeast Arizona, but still a bird most people rarely see, is Whiskered Screech-Owl, the typical “eared” owl of the higher oak canyons.

Favorite spots for day roosts are the knobbly wounds left when Arizona sycamores self-prune; the birds blend in incredibly well, looking just like the shadows of the cavities they fill.

We tend to think of this (and the other screech-owls, too) as strictly nocturnal, but in spring, Whiskereds are often moved to sing during the day, their polite little hooting sometimes giving way to the frenzied syncopation of their “Morse code” song, a vocalization that completely belies the grave dignity with which they otherwise comport themselves.