Master of disguise! Owl barely visible nesting in tree
What a hoot! This owl's camouflage is so good you can barely tell its beak from its bark.
Photographer Graham McGeorge, 42, managed to snap the amazing pics of the Eastern screech owl in Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia.
According to Barcroft Media, he said: "They are masters of disguise so you need to have a sharp eye in order to see them.
"I found this one that was living in a hole in the tree that woodpeckers usually make.
"They are easily spooked and every slight movement I made would scare the owl and send it back inside the hole.
"After 30 minutes or so it would come back out."
Eastern screech owls are about six to 10 inches tall, and strictly nocturnal, roosting during the day in natural cavities or next to tree trunks.
They are quite common in Eastern North America, from Mexico to Canada, and can often be found in residential areas.
Though they generally go unnoticed, these owls are frequently heard calling at night, especially during their spring breeding season.
But, despite their name, this owl (nor most "screech-owls") doesn't truly screech. The Eastern Screech Owl's call is more of a haunting tremolo with a descending, whinny-like quality.
The animals hunt from dawn till dusk and have an extremely varied diet, from insects like beetles and crickets, to snails, spiders scorpions and centipedes, and reptiles like snakes, lizards, turtles and frogs, to small mammals like shrews, rabbits, mice, rats and squirrels.
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