Screech owls are not transient, so if you hear them, they live there. If you have dead trees with holes in it, you already have places for them to roost and nest. If you don't, you can put up nesting boxes for them, but it won't guarantee that the squirrels won't take them over!

If you feed the birds, you are also attracting the small rodents that Screech owls like to eat. Don't use poison on the rodents or insects, so you don't poison up the food chain.

Naturewatcher: Are you sure it is a screech owl call? A recent unit on owls in the kindergarten room where I am working has given me a different idea about what the different calls sound like. The website is below that we found and the calls on there might be useful. The surprising find for me was that the barn owl has a screechier call than the schreech owl. I believe I have heard both around here. The most common sound in my woods, however, is the great horned owl which I am very pleased about. Enjoy the website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Owl pages

Vonyon, I listened to the recordings of the barn owl and then the screech owl. I'm certain it was not the barn owl. The first time I heard the sound (which was the summer before last) it sounded like the "a" call. I went in immediately and listened to various owl calls to decide if it was an owl and which one. Then, on Halloween (last year), I was outside and I heard sound "B". Around the same time I heard some voices of kids on another street, so I thought it was some kind of recording that they had; however, I heard it again sometime after that and checked out the owl calls again and determined it was the screech owl.