Phoebe, I can barely see them in the pic, but they look like eastern screech owls to me. If they are only about 6" or 7" tall and they are flying, they are screech owls. Birds don't grow any more after they are fledged and able to fly, so these would probably be young adults who won't get any taller. And that would mean they are screechies, since all our other owls are much larger.

Marcia

I think this photo & link is better!

Oh you are lucky to have them and see them! I get so excited when I see or hear an owl!

manature, They are indeed about 6 or 7 inches. Thank you.

I wish I had a better camera. They moved a bit up in the tree & there are 3 in a row. So cute.

laural, I know I'm lucky, I've never seen an owl close up in the wild before. I keep sneaking out to spy on them!

Very cool. This reminds me of a book I read to the girls when they were little. I still have it (and have it mostly memorized). I am saving it for the eventual grandkids. It is called "Owl Babies" by Martin Waddel. It is about three little owls named Sarah, Percy and Bill. They wake up to find their mother owl gone and worry if she will come back. It is a wonderful book. So I have hereby named your three little owls Sarah, Percy and Bill.

I agree with Marcia, those are screech owls.

Here is what a baby owl looks like.

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It is a baby barn owl that was in my hangar and held up my re-roofing job :>)

bernie

With a little bit of barbecue sauce, they taste just like chicken.

Very cool barn owl picture, FF. All the years I've birded in Florida (and elsewhere), and I've never managed to see a barn owl in the wild! I'm green with envy.

Phoebe, those are definitely young screech owls. They won't get any taller, though they might "fatten" up a bit. Baby screech owls look just like cotton balls with beaks!

These guys are great!!

Below is a wonderful page of owl calls from all over the world. Scroll down a bit until you come to Eastern Screech owl, and you can click on links to 3 different recordings. Calls 1 and 3 are the ones mostly commonly heard...at least the ones I've heard more often.

Marcia

Here is a link that might be useful: Owl Calls

Lucky you! I love Owls. We had a resident barn owl living in our 2 story barn in Jupiter. I loved to watch them, so cute.

flyingfish2, I had to trap an oppussum before my roof could be done, your owl is much cuter!

My husband has one of those owl calls. On a couple of occasions, we had called one so close that we had to hide in the garage because we were afraid it was going to dive bomb us. They are known for doing that when they think another owl is in their territory. Nothing like that happened. It was fun. The owl sounded ticked off, though.

Screech owls and barred owls are the easiest to call. I can do a barred owl well enough that they answer me, and sometimes fly in close to take a look. I learned it from a friend who was so good at it, you really couldn't tell the difference between her calls and the owls.

Birders will on occasion use a recording of a screech owl call to bring in small birds. Birds will "mob" any screechie they thing is in their nesting territory, so they respond to the call by flying in like crazy to take a look around. This isn't really considered a good thing to do very often as it agitates the little birds, obviously. Once in awhile, it is helpful in seeing just what you might have living in a given area, though.

I have been hearing barred owls at night for weeks now. Earlier in the season, I had two in my big oaks, calling at the top of their lungs one night, but I never could get the light on them to see them. Now they are calling from a block or so away every night.

Ya gotta love owls. Too cool!

Marcia