Eastern Screech-Owl in April

April is when spring migration hits its stride. Waves of migrants move north on warm southerly winds, wintering birds leave for good, and early nesters are already on eggs in the South. Every week brings species that weren't there the week before.

For the Eastern Screech-Owl specifically, April is a spring month inside the nesting season — one of the most active and demanding periods of this bird's year. Across the 42 states and provinces where eastern screech-owls occur, what the bird is doing this month depends heavily on latitude — the details below break it down by band.

Southern states

absent

Mid-latitudes

year-round resident

Northern states & Canada

absent

In April, eastern screech-owls are absent in the South, year-round resident across the mid-latitudes, and absent in the northern states and Canada. That north–south split is the defining feature of this month: where you live changes which version of this bird you're looking at.

April is inside the Eastern Screech-Owl nesting season. Nest: tree cavity or nest box with wood-chip base. Clutch 2–6 eggs, incubation 26–34 days, 1 per season.

The season is broadly synchronized across the range this month. During the nesting months, adults switch to protein-rich foods for their young, become more secretive around the nest site, and often visit feeders in quick, purposeful trips rather than lingering.

Eastern Screech-Owl nest box dimensions and mounting →

• Moths, crickets and small rodents

Screech-owls roost in nest boxes by day; a box on a large tree 10–30 ft up is often used year after year.

Migrants arriving after long flights are hungry — feeders can be genuine lifelines during cold, wet spells that suppress insects.

Full Eastern Screech-Owl diet guide →

In April, the best watching is around food rather than the nest — adults make repeated foraging trips and are most visible at dawn and dusk. Give nesting birds space: if a bird is carrying food or scolding you persistently, you're close to a nest and should back off.

If you have a Eastern Screech-Owl box up, watch from a distance for comings and goings — steady traffic means an active nest — the box guide below has the exact hole size and mounting height this species needs.

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