Silent Hunter

Meet Megascops asio - the Eastern Screech-Owl.  

A non-migrator this is a small owl with feather tufts that resemble ears.  With all of the dead and dying ash on the landscape, woodlots around here have no shortage of trees with cavities for nesting and roosting.

This owl is active from sunset to sunrise and during the winter months will dine on small mammals.  This bird flaps and flies silently and has both excellent hearing and eyesight. This owl only rarely calls with a screech - more frequently communicating with a tremulous, descending trill like the sound effects in a horror film.  

This bird - or others - that look just like it have been showing on the trail cameras in the general location more frequently than usual.  Which makes sense as it has both a winter and summer territory.

They form long term pair-bonds with mates and may roost together.  Breeding season is from later February  into the month of March.  Breeding pairs begin looking for a nest site after next month.