The Screech Owl Companion: Everything You Need to Know About These Beneficial Raptors

This must-read for birders features a complete guide to attracting, understanding, and protecting owls. 

The call of an owl evokes mystery; seeing one in the wild inspires wonder. Of the top ten birds people hope to see, three are owls. Although they may be out of sight, owls are widespread throughout North America—and screech owls are the most likely to make their homes near humans. In this book, experts Jim Wright and Scott Weston show you how to attract them to nest in your yard, year after year.

The Screech Owl Companion introduces screech owls, show how to distinguish them from other species, shares fun lore and legend, and provides step-by-step instructions for making your yard screech ready. You’ll learn how to build a nest box and install a simple nest cam that you can monitor from your cell phone to watch when owls move in, lay eggs, and hatch.

Jim Wright is the author of several books about nature, a prize-winning journalist, and the birding columnist for The Record, Northern New Jersey’s leading newspaper. He has hosted screech owls in his backyard nest box since 2004 and observed them via a nest cam for more than a decade. He leads a campaign to ban the rat poisons that kill owls and other wildlife. He lives in Allendale, New Jersey, where he is a marsh warden.