Western Screech-Owl Supersp #19 Otus kennicottii Elliot       Field Guide IDs: NG-252; G-174; PW-123; AW-pl 286; AM(II)-160 Nest Location Nest Type Eggs & Mating System Dev. & Parental Care Primary & 2ndary Diet.. Foraging Strategy F? I: 21-30 DAYS SEMIALTRICIAL 2 CACTUS 5 - 30 feet 2-5 (2-6) MONOG F: 28 DAYS F? INSECTS SMALL VERTE- ........BRATES BIRDS BREEDING: Woodland (esp oak and riparian), scrub, orchards, woodlots. 1? brood. DISPLAYS: Similar to Eastern Screech-Owl: Courtship on perch: male bows, raises wings, snaps bill, blinks at female and approaches; male brings food to female, lays it before her, with much hopping and bowing. Established pair mutually preen, also duet. NEST: In tree or saguaro cavity, hollow stump, also use abandoned magpie nest, crevice in building. Add no lining material; eggs laid on remnant materials, fur and feathers of prey. EGGS: White. 1.4" (36 mm). DIET: Varies regionally -- includes arthropods, amphibians, reptiles, fish. Hunt soon after dusk, flying over open areas but never far from trees. CONSERVATION: Winter resident. Compete for nest cavities with other small species. Use nest boxes. NOTES: Male feeds female during incubation; female is close sitter. Pair often in nest cavity in day. May attack intruder at nest. Highly nocturnal. Adults perform distraction display. STANFORD. NOTES: Uncommon to fairly rare resident in wooded areas near the Dish, nesting in cavities. Formerly common in, but now absent from, main campus; this species has apparently not adapted well to urbanization in the Stanford area. ESSAYS: Mobbing; Great Plains Hybrids; How Owls Hunt in the Dark; Distraction Displays. REFERENCES: Burton, 1984; Marks and Marks, 1981; Marti and Hogue, 1979.