Urban Wildlife

For the first time, I am starting a garden. I live in a small apartment without a lot of yard space. Most of the places I've lived have been like this and in the past I've tried container gardens, but have never been all that successful. One of my good friends lives a few blocks from me and has a large yard full of grass. So, I am starting a garden in her backyard. I am very excited. Yesterday we got to work and after a couple of hours finished digging up all of the grass.

As I was leaving her house, I heard what sounded like an owl hooting not far off. I listened for a bit and every 5-10 seconds another series of hoots would come. I ran inside to get my friend and we listened for a while. We tried to find it, and we might have, though I'm not sure. There was a small spot in a neighbor's tree two or three houses down that could have easily been the little owl, or it could have just as easily been a bird's nest.

We wanted to find out what kind of owl it was. I had a few resources up my sleeve, and after about five minutes of searching through the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Conservation Data Center to discover what owls live in the region, and also through the Western Soundscape Archive to identify its call, we found out that the owl was a Western Screech Owl.

To hear the Western Screech Owl's call, click here!

Photo Credit: Courtesy and Copyright of Tim Avery