Western Screech-Owl
Art by Jackie Blurton
Nature Note by the late Dr. Roland Shook
In the past, biologists who studied the classification of birds were often misled when they grouped birds that looked similar as being closely related. Although owls share many behavioral and morphological characteristics with hawks, these two groups are quite distantly related.
What evidence would support this statement? Biologists now rely heavily on DNA comparisons. The reasoning follows that the more similar the DNA is between two groups, the more closely related are the groups. Based upon this argument, owls are more like the nighthawks and nightjars than hawks.
"The vocalization of a Western Screech-Owl is a soft whistle that reminds you of a bouncing ball, pwep, pweppwep, pwepwepwepepe." — Sibley. While camping in the West, I have often heard screech owls calling in the middle of the night. Since the owl's call is soft, if you hear a Western Screech-Owl, you know it is close at hand.
This species is a small owl that preys on rodents and insects. Like all owls, it has keen hearing and night vision. Since these birds are primarily nocturnal, they are often overlooked.
