2005 Rescue & Release

"Ofunlo" (Choctaw for "Screech Owl")

Released August 24, 2005

There are two color-morphs for this small, nocturnal woodland owl, gray and reddish-brown. This red-phase Eastern Screech Owl was found dehydrated in a Mississippi back yard when it was a fledgeling and unable to care for itself. Eastern Screech Owls are one of the smallest Owls in North America, only 8" to 9" in length, so sometimes they are mistaken for baby owls. They mainly eat insects, but also like small fish, rodents and frogs. Screech-Owls are best seen in the early evening or pre-dawn hours in our local woodlands, including wooded urban regions. These little owls live with us in our suburbs, and they readily accept an owl house. If you can provide one, it would be an important replacement for the many dead trees are cut down for development or just firewood, destroying their natural habitat. Eastern Screech Owls hunt for prey while in flight, mainly in open woodlands, along the edges of open fields or wetlands, or makes short forays into open fields. When prey are spotted, this Owl dives quickly and seizes it in its talons. Mississippi Wildlife Rehabilitation, Inc. cared for this orphan until it was able survive on its own, and then it was released. MWR is a nonprofit, Federally licenses group whose volunteers provide a lawful, temporary refuge for injured or orphaned wildlife whose numbers have increased due to Katrina.