Bird of a slightly different feather

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]on’t believe everything on the Internet. And, to my great regret, don’t believe every word you read here. As much as I research, I sometimes weave in a statement not knowing it needs research. Last week, I misidentified an owl.

Our “Owl’ee” in our Owl Shack was an Eastern Screech Owl, red morph. According to “Birds of the Texas Hill Country” (Lockwood), “Gray is the dominant color morph on the plateau, with red-morph birds very rarely found.”

Western Screech Owls are found as far east as Kerr County, which is well west of Hays County. Western Screech Owls are gray.