A short series of high toots accelerating through the night announces the presence of a Western Screech-Owl. These compact owls—not much taller than a standard pair of binoculars—hunt in woods and deserts of western North America, where their wide-ranging diet includes everything from worms and crayfish to rats and bats. Found in urban parks and residential areas as well as wilder places, Western Screech-Owls nest in tree cavities, and will readily take to backyard nest boxes.

The diminutive Western Screech-Owl is a predator to be reckoned with: it occasionally takes prey bigger than its own body, including cottontail rabbits. At other times they’ve been seen eating bats, insects and earthworms, which they collect from rainy roads and even compost piles.

Western Screech-Owls sometimes perch at the entrance of their roost holes during the day, but they remain nearly invisible by pressing their head and body feathers against the tree to blend in.

Forages at dusk and at night. Hunts mostly by watching from a perch and then swooping down to take prey from the ground or from foliage. Also catches flying insects in the air. Can locate prey by sound as well as by sight.

Their diet is mostly small mammals and large insects. Diet varies with habitat and region. Includes many beetles, moths, other insects, as well as spiders, scorpions, centipedes; also many small mammals, such as mice, voles, pocket gophers. Also eats small birds, lizards, snakes, frogs, fish.