Fifth smallest owl species in Montana
These owls can be extremely difficult to tell from the Eastern Screech-Owl due to their very similar appearances. Luckily, not only do they live almost fully west of the Rockies, they also have a very different song from their eastern relatives.
Their songs can be heard at dusk and can continue into the night sounding a bit like a bouncing ball. A trill of 5–9 short, high-pitched “hoot”s speeding up at the end like a ball does as it hits the ground. The females and males will often duet when they are a mated pair, the female being the higher pitched sound. To stay in contact, the pairs will use a short “double trill” call that sounds like a small “chirp” sound.
