Surprised and Surrounded by Six Spring Screech Owls in South Mississauga

While just about finished an early June walk around a local park in Mississauga, I reached an official Y in the trail and had to pick which path to take. I paused to think about it and then heard the strangest set of calls. They were odd soft whirring and querulous utterings. I had absolutely no idea what might make that type of sound. I looked sideways, and perched only a couple of metres down the trail, at eye level, was a big fluffy mass of feathers. The branches shook and other fluff-balls started landing on branches on either side of the trail. I was astonished and soon surrounded by a family of fledgling Eastern Screech Owls!

Needless to say, I stepped, slowly and quietly, down that trail! And spent several magical moments with a family of owls.

(These photos of ‘the blink’ are actually from mid-way through my the encounter.)

What Are Owls Afraid Of? Or Owls Under Attack During Daylight

When I first encountered the owls, I expected them to be afraid of me. I was only a few metres away and they were so low on their perches I could actually have tried to catch them.

They were “mantling” or spreading their wings and tails in a hunched posture to make themselves look larger. That’s usually a defensive posture to intimidate threatening birds and animals.

In fact, for a minute I wondered if I would ever get to see an owl’s face–because they weren’t concerned about me.

Everyone’s eyes were focused on the threat they had flown into this thicket to escape.

The older of the fledglings had his or her “horns” up. The others were trying but they didn’t yet have long enough feather tufts to show up much.

As I watched, a Blue Jay and a Robin flew in towards the owls, calling. The Robin actually swooped down over one of the youngster’s heads. It veered off about a half-metre above it, but the young owl still flinched. (I really wished I had photographed it but I only caught some dark versions of it ducking.)

The young owl family was not worried about me, even with my camera clicking steadily as I wished desperately to get at least one photo in focus and not under-exposed before they flew on.

Strangely enough, though, the Robin and Blue Jay were: They took one look at me, and left! Usually if owls are spotted by nesting birds in the spring, they will be mobbed by a flock of increasingly angry and daring perching birds until the owls give up and fly somewhere else.

So in an odd way, my presence was actually helping the owls have a respite from aerial attacks. They stopped calling and gradually calmed down. They stopped mantling and even preened a bit. I stared around in fascination, discovering there were four young owls.

Do Screech Owls Come In Different Colours?

The eggs must be all incubated starting from when the first egg is laid because they were all at slightly different stages of maturity from a cute fuzzy “chick” to one that almost looked like an adult owl.

And they looked at me! (Although most of my photos are still of the backs of their heads.)

They seemed more interested in each other than me. Then they started to move, but not away from me.

I looked to see what they were moving towards, and realized we had been joined by a parent! This adult Screech Owl actually seemed smaller (though taller) than its youngsters. It’s what is called a “Red Phase” Screech Owl. They come in two colours but are the same type of bird.

And as if that wasn’t already amazingly nice for me to see, my jaw dropped a bit to see…

The other parent had also silently arrived. This is the Grey Phase of the Eastern Screech Owl.

Without going off the path, it was tricky to try to get a photo of the entire family, but if you look closely, (click on the photo to see a slightly larger version) there are 4 juvenile and 2 adult Screech Owls now gathered up closely. One is just left of the upper obvious owl.

This was my favourite look at one of the young owls!

I left at this point because I’d already had several minutes in their presence and knew I shouldn’t stay too long. But knowing I’d kept away the song birds that wanted to mob them made me feel less guilty about the time I’d spent nearby taking dozens of photos.

Why Did I Only Report These June Owls and Post These Photos in October?

The local park where I met this young owl family is a known home for Eastern Screech Owls. I’ve only encountered them once before there, though. I stay on the paths and the owls usually are roosting in sheltered spots during the daytime. I met them totally by chance when the family decided to perch temporarily on both sides of an official path, allowing me an amazing close up look at them.

I was concerned, though, that if I reported such a photogenic family, some over-enthusiastic photographers might start trampling off trail hunting for them. That wouldn’t likely lead to the owls, especially since all of these six could fly. But it would damage the vegetation and could lead the photographers into some serious skin damage from the Cow Parsnip, Wild Parsnip, Wild Angelica and Poison Ivy that abound off trail.

Now seems like a good time to share my encounter with owls which are actually found in many city parks in southern Ontario–if you are lucky and keep your ears and eyes open.

Related Reading

• An Encounter with Great Horned Owls
• A Snowy Owl at Lasalle Park
• A Screech Owl in the Winter Sunshine

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