Screech Owl

I don't know who named us screech owls, because it doesn't really describe us at all. Our call is more like the soft whinny of a miniature horse. I hope you are outdoors some evening and can hear our beautiful song in the night. My favorite thing to do in the daytime is playing hide-and-seek. I am so well camouflaged that you will probably never see me. I hide perfectly still all day, tucked into the nooks and crannies of tree branches. I may even hide in a woodpecker's nest to avoid being seen. No "ollie-ollie-in-free" call will get me to come out. Us owls have a reputation to keep. We aren't going to give up our Best Hide-and-Seek Player awards, not even if you tempt us with our favorite foodies. Nope, we can wait patiently until darkness settles in and then we'll hunt all during the night to fill our bellies.

Your pet becomes an expert at finding its own food!

It was a dark and stormy night, well it really was, and one mother owl was caught in gale to end all gales, when she flew her nest, yes, she really was carrying her nest, straight aboard the most fearsome ship of the seven seas - Black Betty!

Now, the pirates aboard were a motley crew and yet, that bedraggled mama and her single, solitary owlet, stole their black hearts right out of their chests. Invited to stay on board, the little owlette, known for skipping across the decks looking for a tasty worm or two, hidden in the pockets of the crew, grew up learning the ways of parlay and rum.

Yes, he was an owl, who became a pirate, whose mother then shooed him away to the mainland, where he belonged. Where he belonged!? No, that would never do! When he was grown, having gotten rich running rumchatas up the coast on behalf of the Black Betty, the owl had everything he wanted, save the respect of the local owls. He felt he would never be accepted by the other owls in the neighborhood, who were far more mannerly and enjoyed “gentlemens races” in their fancy yachts on the weekend. So the pirate-raised owl bought a ship, the grandest vessel of the modern owl, and determined he would show them all, every last land lubber and scurvy pirate lackey, that he was the fiercest and fastest sailor of the seven seas!

And, that’s where you’ll find him to this very day, tipping his hat to the other owls determined to beat him at his own game, awaiting the next race, the next chance to spread his infamy far and wide … let any owl beat him, if he can!

Favorite food:

Chocolate Mouse

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