A tree hollow in a public park in Central Minneapolis is the home for this pair of Eastern Screech-Owls. It’s a pair of the two different color morphs of the species, the rufous morph and the gray morph. The Western species only has a gray morph. These photos were taken seconds apart when they did a quick switch as they traded places.
Is it just me or they look like mini Totoros?
They look so similar! The color must be there to help tell them apart
It does help!
The grey are more common further north, and the red further south, with I think around 70% grey / 30% red in Pennsylvania.
Other owls change colors with location too. I’m pretty good at picking regions of North American Great Horns since I’m pretty familiar with them, and I’ve seen a lot of variation in Tawny Owls in photos from different parts of Europe.
Absolutely!
