Expert: Julia Booth - 8/14/2010

Question
For the last month there have been several birds in three trees around our house that screech from late dusk to 3-4 AM. There are at least 3 of them in 3 different trees. One will screech, then the next, then the third, then the first again, etc. My sister saw 2 of them flying from the top of one tree to another, and said they were small. Once I heard the same sound in the late afternoon. The sound had stopped by the time I located a large bird in the oak tree. I only saw him from the back, but when he flew away, he looked like the back of a horned owl, I think. I am in Eagle Rock, slightly northeast of downtown Los Angeles, CA.

Answer
An owl in Los Angeles kind of narrows it down.

Sounds like a Western Screech Owl. Similar ear tufts and behavior as you described. Likely to be a mother and two offspring. It is not the right time of year for the males to be courting.


http://depts.washington.edu/natmap/facts/western_screech_owl_712.html

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Screech-Owl/id

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Screech_Owl

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Otus_kennicottii...


Let me know if you need more info,


Julia