EASTERN SCREECH OWL

VERY COOL!!  We have seen Eastern Screech-Owls before, but always because we went somewhere and someone was else showing us the owl.  Tonight, WE found it, right here near the pond and near our house!  A few days ago I came home and heard one trilling near the house and called to Linda to come listen.  I knew it was close.  I was in the driveway with the dog and she was on the upstairs porch and we found it sitting in a tree, right near us!  We didn't have binoculars with us, but it was close enough that I spotted it and Linda got to see it fly (it flew as soon as Blake & I moved out of sight). 
 [--Update 3/11/13: got a picture today.  Will reset camera and see if I can get a better one tomorrow.  Talk about well camouflaged -- it is hard to tell owl from bark of tree!]

Eastern Screech Owl

 Last night we heard it trilling in the woods down near the end of Raynor (near the cul-de-sac) at dusk.  We couldn't see it, but I spotted a dark spot on a tree that I thought might be a hole.  This is the same area where I saw the Pileated Woodpecker in the fall, so it occurred to me that the owl might be living in an old Pileated hole.  This morning, we walked over to look and sure enough, the black spot was a hole in the tree. 

This evening, I was walking the dog about a half hour before dusk and noticed that the sun was shining right on the hole.  But, the hole looked funny!  It wasn't black like this morning.  Now, it could have just been the light, but knowing that the screech likes to sit in its hole and bask in the sun, I thought it was worth checking it out, so went back into the house for Linda and the binoculars.  Sure enough, the hole was filled with a screech owl!  Carol & Joe came over with the scope and we had a great view; Carol saw it blink!  

Tomorrow, I am going to take my DSLR camera over and see if I can get a picture; I'm pretty sure it will be there, again basking in the south sunlight.  I don't have a huge lens, but we can get pretty close, so I might be able to zoom in on it.  Check back to see if I get a picture.  Meanwhile, here is a link to information about the Eastern Screech-Owl.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Screech-Owl/id
Be sure to listen to its call - the trilling call is what we heard this time.  The whinnying, or screech, is really eerie sounding!  Ours is a grey morph, but looked much like the red-morph sitting in its hole in the picture on the All About Birds site, except it was grey, and exactly the same color as the oak tree!

I'll bet this owl was snug in its hole Friday during the storm when we got another 15" of snow!  Cavity nesting birds have the right idea.  I think our juncos & sparrows roost in the yew bush which is way overgrown and gets covered with snow, thus making a warm home in the storm.  The Christmas lights are still on the bush, too, and probably provide a bit of warmth as well!