Feathers
Saw-whet owls love to nest in the holes of trees, using the burrows where the likes of flickers and pileated woodpeckers once dwelled. They are a small and sensitive species of owl with a sweet night song and want the lush density and privacy of a forest to live in.
Habitat loss is the major contributing factor to the population decline of saw-whet owls. The saw-whet depends on the hand-me-downs of other birds or animals. Resourcing a safe location is critical for them to thrive.
(So keep that dead tree with the hole! A saw-whet could use it.)
Saw-whet owls deserve their space.
Disturbing a nest or getting too close can
interrupt their nesting or feeding habits.
Females are larger than the males. Saw-whet females engage in sequential polyandry, meaning she chooses more than one mate.
They breed once yearly, between March & July. The mother chooses the nesting site within the male’s territory and will lay up to 4 - 7 eggs and incubates them for up to 28 days. When the chicks hatch, she broods them for at least 18 days.
The name as we know it came from the songs they make when they are calling out for a mate ~ having resemblance to the ‘whetting’ of a saw.