Description
One of the parents of the owlets in this collection, tucked in against the trunk a short distance from the nest cavity, dappled green light all around and one brilliant yellow eye fixed on me. Compare him with the drowsy adult in the other photograph and you can read the difference instantly: there, the ear tufts lay flat; here they are up. Those tufts are a mood indicator, and right now they say alert.
This is what a screech owl family looks like during the day. The adults do not sit in the hole with the young once the owlets are grown enough to fill it — they roost nearby, often on a shaded branch against a trunk exactly like this, sleeping lightly within sight of the cavity. It is childcare by proximity: close enough to respond, far enough not to draw attention to the hole.
The work is divided. The female does the incubating and stays with the young while they are small; the male hunts through the night and ferries food back — mice, voles, moths, beetles, earthworms, whatever the season offers — sometimes dozens of deliveries before dawn. And for a bird that stands about eight inches tall and weighs roughly what a baseball does, they are astonishingly willing to defend that cavity. Screech owls will strike at animals many times their size, and at people who get too close to the nest tree.
I kept my distance and used the long lens. He watched me the entire time.
This is a high-resolution digital download of the photograph, made in Portland, Oregon — yours to print for your home or office, set as a wallpaper, or simply keep. It pairs naturally with the owlet photographs in this collection.
What you’ll receive: a high-resolution JPEG, approximately 3360 × 3008 pixels — nearly square, sharp enough to print at full photo quality up to about 11 × 10 inches at 300 DPI, and larger for wall display. Delivered as an instant download the moment your order is complete.
License: Personal use only. Print it for your own home, use it as a wallpaper or screen background, enjoy it yourself. Not licensed for commercial use, resale, redistribution, or AI training. © Jonathan Swanson / JonSwan Productions. All rights reserved.