Whiskered Screech-Owl

A long run of soft, evenly pitched whistles, often delivered from a hidden perch in a dark canyon. It sounds steady and patient, like a tiny bird-sized metronome in the trees.

This owl is a year-round resident from southeastern Arizona south through much of Mexico into parts of Central America. It does not make long migrations, but it may shift locally up and down mountain slopes.

Look for it in pine-oak forests, wooded canyons, and shady ravines, often near streams or big sycamores. In the U.S., it is a specialty of the sky island mountains of southeastern Arizona.

It is most active from dusk through the night and into early dawn. Spring is the best time to hear one, when males sing persistently from hidden perches in dark canyons.

Whiskered Screech-Owl is a small, bark-patterned owl of cool mountain woods. Its bright yellow eyes, short ear tufts, and neat dark streaks vanish against pine and oak bark until its soft, steady hoots give it away.