Owl

We had a beautiful snowy day today with about 18" of powder on the ground and more coming down. This morning I looked out the great room window from the upstairs bedroom to see a coyote sitting on the berm. He had to hop around to maneuver in all of the snow.

Then I went downstairs and heard a lot of screeching. I followed the noise and found scrub jays harassing an owl who (hoo?) was perched under our portico, sitting on a wrought iron flower basket hook. The owl was just a little guy at maybe 8" in length. At first we were really quiet so that we could take photos but it turned out that he didn't mind us. He also completely ignored the scrub jays. He stayed there until Mike went outside to snow-blow the driveway.

I thought he might be a Northern Pygmy-Owl which are 6 3/4" in length. The bird book says, "Birders may locate the owl by watching for mobbing songbirds" and pictures the Pygmy-Owl with a dead scrub jay in his talons. But the Pygmy-Owl lacks ear tufts and this little guy definitely has ear tufts. Therefore, I think he is a Western Screech-Owl (8 1/2") which are common in open woodlands.

I especially like his white feathers. They look cozy.

- Corinne, Mike, and Anders Rocket