The Screech Owl is a common bird within the city, nesting in
early March about the boulevards and parks, wherever suitable
cavities are to be found. A pair nested for fifteen years
at Armour Boulevard and Campbell, another at Valentine Road and
Broadway, and others have been regularly seen or heard in many
other regions.
They
have been observed lurking about street lights in search of
large insects or possibly toads. They are known to prey on
mice and English Sparrows and should be carefully protected.
It
is doubtful if this owl is as common about the city as formerly,
since it is frequently killed or driven away under the
impression that it is a destroyer of song birds. One
instance is known of six (two adults and four grown young) being
killed in one evening. An examination of dozens of
specimens taken in this vicinity leads to the belief that the
gray color phase predominates here. |