Discovering The World Through Our Lens
The eastern screech owl is a small owl that is relatively common in Eastern North America, from Mexico to Canada.
Pandemic Birding had been a whole new experience for Bob and me. Since the pandemic was officially declared in March 2020, we had made outdoor activities a priority but always kept within a 30-minute radius from our home. On one such occasion in late May 2020, we happened upon this newly fledged Eastern Screech Owlet. Read more
Bob and I had heard that, at a particular cemetery in Burlington, Ontario, there are no less than three Eastern Screech Owls (megascops asio) that inhabit nest holes in a couple of different trees. On the morning of our most recent visit, we did find one of the Red Morph Screech Owls, but when directed to a second tree that a pair of Screech Owls calls home, the cavity showed no sign of its occupants. It wasn’t until much later in the afternoon that I spotted this Red Morph when it poked its head out of the dark hollow for a peak at the world. Read more
Bob and I could not believe our good fortune when we found a second Eastern Screech Owl on the same visit to Burlington, Ontario. This Eastern Screech Owl Grey Morph is quite different from the Red Morph Eastern Screech Owl we had just observed at a nearby Cemetery. Read more
Well, Bob and I can finally say that we have seen an Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio) in the wild, as opposed to one we visited at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre a couple of years ago. It has taken us two years to finally see the Eastern Screech Owls at Woodland Cemetery in Burlington and not for lack of knowing where to look. It was overcast one day last week when Bob and I again ventured west of Toronto in hopes of finding at least one of the known Screech Owls out of its nest hole. Read more
Bob and I do not profess to be expert bird watchers, but when we sighted our first ever owl, a Northern Saw-Whet Owl, a fire was lit within us. To learn more about raptors in general, we decided to take a drive out to Campbellville, to the Mountsberg Raptor Centre, in Ontario. Read more