Very Early Screech Owl Fledging

Up here in Massachusetts a more northern climate, we think we know screech owl breeding season, the bulk of screech owls in our region lay eggs between mid march and mid April, which tend to fledge mid may through mid June. The earliest fledging screech owl on this trail was a single owlet on the night of April 14-15th https://owloasis.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/only-one-owlet-lots-of-photos/ . I thought that was very early and it kinda was. However….This year a fledgling Screech Owlet was brought to Cape Ann Wildlife (more complete story of the adventure the little owlet available on the linked facebook page) March 7th 2024, it was found in the middle of a street in northern MA. This would put egg laying in the first 1/3 of January 2024! That seemed crazy early! Erin H. from CAW did mention that owl expert Norman Smith has had fledgling in January in MA. Which piqued my curiosity! The good news is the original nest was found and the Cape Ann Wildlife team was able to locate and re-nest the fledgling screech owl with its original family on March 10th 2024, Job Well Done! (Photos Courtesy of CAW, used with permission)

first photo, fledgling owlet brought in getting weighed at Cape Ann Wildlife,

second photo, owlet released, joining its family again!

As timing would have it, my family went to renowned owl expert Norman Smith https://www.projectsnowstorm.org/posts/norman-smith-champion-of-the-owls/ presentation at a near by Mass Audubon property . He has re-nested thousands of raptors over his 50 years of work. I got to chat with him after the presentation to find out through the years has experienced over 1/2 dozen fledgling screech owls this early or earlier…. as early as mid-January in Massachusetts which would put egg laying mid-November. Now that is crazy early! But also a great reminder that there can always be exceptions to what we think we know.