With luck and the perfect weather on our side, we decided to try to photograph a Western screech-owl. These birds are common in this habitat and are normally responsive to calls and cooperative to pose for photographs. We had photographed a screech-owl in the same area on a previous visit. We played a recording and within minutes, one responded with their own call and flew in to land in a nearby tree.

The screech-owls (eastern and western) are one of my favorites to photograph because they are normally so responsive and cooperative. This one didn’t disappoint.

We had heard several Great-horned owls at various locations throughout the evening. We tried briefly to call one in to photograph. We had a pair come close to our location along the creek, but they never revealed themselves. We have had such luck photographing these during the day that we didn’t pursue these very long before we called it an early night. We loaded up and drove back to Kenton, arriving before midnight.