Western Screech-Owl
Supersp #19
Otus kennicottii Elliot
STANFORD LOCATIONS:

  
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs
Mating System
Dev.
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
Foraging
Strategy
F?
I: 21-30 DAYS
SEMIALTRICIAL 2
CACTUS
5 - 30 feet
2-5
(2-6)
MONOG
F: 28 DAYS
F?
INSECTS
SMALL VERTE-
........BRATES
BIRDS
BREEDING: Woodland (esp oak and riparian), scrub, orchards, woodlots. 1? brood.
DISPLAYS:  Similar to Eastern Screech-Owl: Courtship on perch: male bows, raises wings, snaps bill, blinks at female and approaches; male brings food to female, lays it before her, with much hopping and bowing. Established pair mutually preen, also duet.
NEST:  In tree or saguaro cavity, hollow stump, also use abandoned magpie nest, crevice in building. Add no lining material; eggs laid on remnant materials, fur and feathers of prey.
EGGS: White. 1.4" (36 mm).
DIET:  Varies regionally -- includes arthropods, amphibians, reptiles, fish. Hunt soon after dusk, flying over open areas but never far from trees.
CONSERVATION:  Winter resident. Compete for nest cavities with other small species. Use nest boxes.
NOTES: Male feeds female during incubation; female is close sitter. Pair often in nest cavity in day. May attack intruder at nest. Highly nocturnal. Adults perform distraction display.
ESSAYS: Mobbing; Great Plains Hybrids; How Owls Hunt in the Dark; Distraction Displays.
REFERENCES: Burton, 1984; Marks and Marks, 1981; Marti and Hogue, 1979.
Help Abbreviations Species-Alphabetical Order Species-Taxonomic Order Essays
Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).