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Screech Owl (gray and red phases)

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Stock #: 201742
Type: Postcard
Era: Linen
Size: 3.5" x 5.5" (9 x 14 cm)

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No. 14 Screech Owl Length 9 1/2 inches In eastern North America the Screech Owl is probably the best known of all the Owls. UNlike most other members of the family, it has come to appreciate the advantages of human neighbors, seeking our dwellings and taking up its abode in barns or other outbuildings. It is particularly fond of old orchard, where it finds a most congenial retreat. Here it secures the small prey which constitutes its food, and the Screech Owl should be regarded as a beneficial bird. "Of 255 stomachs examined only 1 contained poultry; 38, other birds; 91, mice; 11, other mammals; 2, lizards; 4, batrachians;1, fish; 100, insescts;5, spiders; 9, crawfish; 7,miscellaneous; 2, scorpions; 2, earthworms; and 43 were empty." (Fisher.) This species is found in both gray and brown phases of plumage, which have no relation to age, sex or season. The note of the Screech Owl is a whining quaver or tremulus falsetto, which, heard in the quiet dusk of evening, has a strange fascinatinon. This specie builds no nest, but lays its eggs in a hole of a dead tree or a stub, frequently the cavity formerly occupied by the Flicker. From four to six white eggs are laid. Classification: Order Raptores, Family Strigidae. Scientific name: Otus asio asio Range: In its different forms it is found over much of temperate North America from southern British Columbia to Mexico and Florida

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