How neat!! I love the third picture. Wish I had some visitors like that.

Ginny

Here's your link.

Here is a link that might be useful: owls

Bren, it looks like you have a family of Eastern Screech owls in your tree. Congratulations. I just love them. Of course, they don't really screech at all. They make a soft, trilling or whinnying sound that's actually kind of pretty. Listen for it in the late evening or very early morning. Link below.

They are the smallest owl in the eastern part of the U.S., and come in 3 color phases: red, brown, and gray. And like most of the other U.S. owls, they nest in hollow trees or large nest boxes.

Marcia

Here is a link that might be useful: Eastern Screech Owl Calls

Thanks Ginny, guess i have forgotten how to post photos.
Marcia, thanks for the link. Knew you would respond!
They really are cute.
Brenda

Im soooo jealous. How cute they look peering thru the leaves. :>)
Cliff

I love the picture that's all eyes and tummies! Worth a little s--- on the orchids, isn't it.

Great pictures! How in the world did you get so close to them?

I've got a huge Hickory tree in my backyard that a Great Horned Owl has taken to calling home. We can hear him/her pretty much every night. I'd miss it if it ever left.

I had one in my garden this spring. Majestic birds. :o)

Katkin, you had a screech owl or a great horned owl? Screechies are little guys...only about 8" tall, which makes them shorter than mourning doves, actually. Though they sit straighter up. Great horned owls are really BIG...can be as tall as 25 inches... and truly a sight to see. ANY owl makes me happy. There is just something special about them. I'm hearing barred owls calling at night in our neighborhood all the time now. Once they took up a perch in my oaks, and proceeded to have a showdown with each other, calling back and forth, and cackling like crazy. It was so cool!

Marcia

What wonderful pictures! I love owls but even though I hear them around the house every night I have yet to actually see one. You are so lucky to get such a clear view of them.

Thanks, Marcia, for posting the link. With it I was finally able to ID what owls I keep hearing at night. There must be several Barred owls in the area with all the noise they make. They make the strangest sounds and are so loud!

Kara

Kara, barred owls are a...ready?...HOOT to listen to, aren't they? With their very loud, "Who cooks for you, who cooks for YOU-aaaaallll?" And then the cackling battles they get into...reminds me of laughing hyenas in the African bush.

They are very easy to call up, too. I have known people who could do a perfect call, and even I can call them, though my rendition is far from perfect. But I have had them answer me many times, and come swooping in to see if there was a strange owl in their territory that needed to be investigated.

They are the only one of our owls that are often active in full daylight, and they are the only one with black eyes instead of yellow. They are big owls, and the lack of "ear" tufts makes them easy to tell apart from a great horned owl. They are definitely my favorite one. Except possibly for the cute little burrowing owls in the Cape Coral area.

Glad you are enjoying them. They sure do spice up a summer night, don't they?

Marcia