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Pepper

Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio)



Pepper is a grey morph Eastern Screech Owl found in Maryland as a hatch year owlet in 2023. His left eye was badly damaged and ultimately had to be removed. He has healed up well but has not learned to adjust to the lack of three dimensional vision that helps him to accurately catch prey.

Eastern Screech Owls are very common, found anywhere from Maine and Canada south to Southern and Central Mexico. Favorite nesting areas include any hollow cavity five to forty feet from the ground, sometimes even nesting in the gutters or soffits of suburban houses. They mate for life and are devoted parents, raising up to 4 chicks per year. The young owlets are raised primarily by the female, and the male brings food to the nest. They eat small rodents, salamanders, minnows, and insects, as well as other small mammals, reptiles, and birds. The males are smaller than the females, averaging 5 ounces to the female’s average weight of 7 ounces. In the wild, Eastern Screech Owls have a life span of about 5- 7 years, but in captivity some have lived to be over 12 years old.

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Three Rivers Avian Center

Three Rivers Avian Center

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