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Western Screech Owl

Western Screech Owl line art illustration (click image to enlarge)

Western Screech Owl full color illustration (click image to enlarge)

Artist's notes:

The Western Screech Owl was completed on 10.5.2010. A good friend encountered one of these birds of prey while camping. He snapped a couple good images, and while I hadn't seen it myself, I knew I wanted to add this owl to my library of wildlife images. The drawing is based on a photo by Johanna van de Woestijne.

Information about the Western Screech Owl:

The Western Screech Owl is a small, nocturnal, woodland bird of prey native to the forests, scrublands and riparian woodlands of western North America, from Alaska down into Northern Mexico. It is one of the west's most frequently encounter owls, usually at the lower elevations. This owl is very aggressive when it comes to defending it's nest, and has been know to attack human who stray to close. They feed on a variety of prey such as insects, moths, small mammals like mice, shrews, pocket gophers, amphibians, crustaceans, and even farm animals like small ducks and chickens. The name "kennicotti" was given to this owl to honor Robert Kennicott who was an American explorer and naturalist.