16 days ago
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Posted On: October 2nd 2026, 12:26 pm
This owl keeps pet snakes.
Eastern screech-owls do something no other bird does: every prey item arrives at the nest dead — except the tiny Texas blind snakes, which arrive alive. They burrow into the nest debris and eat the parasitic fly larvae that feed on helpless chicks, and the chicks raised with live-in snakes grow faster and die less often.
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Photos: OptimusPrimeBot (public domain), Peter K Burian (CC BY 4.0), Rhododendrites (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons; Wormsoft98 (CC BY 4.0), Steveprutz (free use) via Wikimedia Commons (blind snake photos); Brenda Ladd / cliftonladd (CC BY 4.0) via iNaturalist (nestlings). Music: "Spirit in the Woods" by Alejandro Magaña (A. M.) via Mixkit (free license).
#easternscreechowl #megascopsasio #birdbiology
Eastern screech-owls do something no other bird does: every prey item arrives at the nest dead — except the tiny Texas blind snakes, which arrive alive. They burrow into the nest debris and eat the parasitic fly larvae that feed on helpless chicks, and the chicks raised with live-in snakes grow faster and die less often.
—
Photos: OptimusPrimeBot (public domain), Peter K Burian (CC BY 4.0), Rhododendrites (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons; Wormsoft98 (CC BY 4.0), Steveprutz (free use) via Wikimedia Commons (blind snake photos); Brenda Ladd / cliftonladd (CC BY 4.0) via iNaturalist (nestlings). Music: "Spirit in the Woods" by Alejandro Magaña (A. M.) via Mixkit (free license).
#easternscreechowl #megascopsasio #birdbiology
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