Screech Owls out of the knothole.

Just for the record, here's the hen sitting in the knothole on a rainy day back in March. Chest and face markings are slightly different than the male and she's a little bigger.

The adult male trying to ignore the crowd.

Grey-phase Screech Owl chick. The fuzzy ball approach to camo.

This is the adult male. He's a little smaller than the hen.

Owl fans shamelessly mugging for FB profile photos.

Calm chick.

Finger transfer in progress. I've known several folks who had pet Screech Owls. One lady sat hers on the window sill while she was washing dishes and a wild one would fly down to visit.

Once I explained how to get a bird to step back on your finger by putting it behind his legs, this young lady INSISTED on holding the owl. I sent them an email file and walked up a real print.

Celebratory owl art.

Monitoring the owl nest in the knothole. Today both adults were in leafy limbs just outside and once we got to looking, three chicks as well. Several folks in the neighborhood stopped by and we had a little owl-fest. Dangerous but inevitable time for the chicks. They can't stay in there forever.

One of the little neighborhood girls spotted a baby down low enough to finger and several folks got to hold it for photos. Owls calm at this age. He popped his beak at us and the adults shifted around a little but everyone back on their limbs and calm by the time we left. Might be another chick in the hold.

Blue, the street cat who was an owl threat died earlier in the spring. Might help the mortality rate on little owls.