The Days of Owl Lives

By Olya Phillips

Not many love stories start with a mouse carcass, but this one does. When you’re a Western Screech-Owl you love eating mice, small birds and large insects. With this in mind, our story protagonist, Howie the Screech-Owl, decides to invite his new girlfriend Holly to his bachelor pad. What better way to do this than enticing her with a dead mouse? This love story starts on a cold January night when Holly follows Howie to check out their new home: open concept, nice pine wood flooring (and walls and roof!) and a nice porch, or perch, to hang out on. She approves of this nestbox as she’s always been extra fond of Northwest Tucson. 

Screech-Owl in nestbox, Axel Elfner

Longtime Tucson Audubon volunteer Tim Helentjaris has hosted Howie in this nestbox for a few years now. In 2019, a camera was installed in the roof of the nestbox to share the story with a wider audience and to increase awareness of owl and nestbox importance. This allows a glimpse into the secret side of owl lives, cloaked by darkness, silent on the wing, and imperceptible in the trees. VIDEO: It's a hoot! Watch a time-lapse video of this story!

After the introduction of Holly, the owls visit the nestbox together, exchanging little courting calls. Holly was much larger than Howie; After all she is the one responsible for laying the eggs and incubation. This sexual dimorphism in size is often seen in raptor species.

It was the beginning of February, 2019, one of the coldest winter snaps Tucson has experienced in years. Howie and Holly are seen in their box every night, calling to each other and preening each other’s feathers. The technical term is allopreening and it strengthens their pair bond.

On February 15th, Howie left the nestbox to go hunting, but Holly is restless in the box. She is spinning circles on the floor, seemingly unable to find a comfortable position. The reason for her discomfort: a perfectly round, white egg is now positioned in the middle of the nestbox floor. Shortly after, the proud dad, Howie, shows up with a small mouse to congratulate the mom, but she’s nowhere to be found. Holly is not sitting on her egg just yet. She is going to lay more eggs, and to ensure that they all hatch at the same time, she will start incubating after the last egg is laid. How many eggs will she lay? Literature says 2-7, that’s quite a range! In the next 10 days, 3 more eggs are laid, bringing the total to 4. She is now incubating her eggs and turning them carefully to ensure even distribution of warmth. She no longer leaves the nestbox to hunt. Howie has taken over that function completely.

It’s now March 28th, almost a month and a half since the first egg was laid. Daytime reveals a scene: the nestbox floor is littered with half-eaten mouse carcasses. Howie is in his normal spot, surveying from the window. White pieces of egg shell are on the floor of the nestbox. Holly moves to the side and we get a glimpse of two white puff balls beneath her—two chicks have hatched overnight! Their heads wobble as they reach for mom. Howie is working even harder to keep everyone fed.

Normally eggs hatch within a few days of each other, but it’s been weeks and the other two eggs are not hatching. Howie and Holly laid their eggs a couple weeks earlier than normal for their species, so the last freezes may have prevented their success. Unfazed, Howie and Holly doted over their little chicks. Within a week they get their gray feathers and are left by the parents for longer periods of time. Mom and dad give them small morsels of food and the chicks even try to eat large insects on their own but, that’s easier said than done!

It’s now April 28th, the chicks are a month old and looking far different from the small white puff balls they used to be. Now gray with some down feathers remaining, they sport black “eyebrows” instead of the full facial disk their parents have. They practice flapping their wings in the safety of their spacious nestbox to strengthen their flight muscles. Their parents are now leaving them alone in the box for most of the time. They call from outside, enticing them to make a leap of faith. Peeking out from the nestbox entrance, the chicks are curious yet nervous about the world outside. Two days later one of the chicks goes for it and leaves the nestbox, followed by its sibling the day after.

They spend 5 weeks with their parents perfecting their flying and hunting techniques. The young Screech-Owls will disperse to claim their own territories in the fall, starting love stories of their own.

Disclaimer: All anthropomorphizing in this story is done in good spirit for fun. These are wild independent animals.

Fall is an excellent time to install a Screech-Owl nestbox! Get your nestbox at our Nature Shop for $55 each. All proceeds go back into the Desert Nestbox Program to continue providing our local cavity-nesters with a safe place to nest. More information can be found here: tucsonaudubon.org/nestbox

VIDEO: It's a hoot! Watch a time-lapse video of this story!

 

Olya Phillips is the Community Science Coordinator at Tucson Audubon. She heads the Bird-safe Buildings and the Desert Nestbox Programs providing safe places for our local birds to interact and nest. Olya has a degree in Wildlife Conservation and Management from University of Arizona and a Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems. She enjoys using technology to observe and study birds which allows for minimal disruption and a lot of valuable information gathered.