Screech Owls and Priority of Children

The screech-owl is probably one of America's favorite owls. You can even attract them with an owl house. A large birdhouse in which to roost and nest will work or wood duck houses work well too (10 inches square and 24 inches tall with an elipitical 4-by 3-inch entrance near the top.)

Screech owls may also use birdbaths at night. Learn how to attract the screech-owl to your yard, and listen to its song at Birds and Blooms. There is an Eastern Screech Owl and a Western Screech Owl.

More from Creation Moments:

The screech owl is one of the smaller and more inoffensive members of the owl family. While most owls have a large variety of calls and screeches, the screech owl is one that seldom screeches. Usually the screech owl is little bother to anyone except its lunch.

However, when it is time to raise a family, the personality of the screech owl changes and they can upset many lives. Screech owls don’t build nests, they simply look for a good sheltered place to lay their eggs and protect their young. This could be a natural hollow in a tree or an abandoned woodpecker nest. After about 28 days, the eggs hatch into hollering baby screech owls.

The parents know that their work is cut out for them now. If they don’t provide enough food for their youngsters, the hatchlings will eat each other right in the nest. So parents pay single-minded attention to their young’s needs. They will raid area bird houses and even attack people. In one instance, a screech owl came down a chimney and yanked a canary out of its cage to take back for its hungry youngsters.

It seems that the normally inoffensive screech owl will use all of its resources to provide for its young. Has the Lord provided us with a reminder in the screech owl about how we should place our own children on a little higher priority in our own busy lives?