This is Birdnode. Screech owls are cute, with stubby little bodies,

pokey little ear tufts, huge round eyes, and what looks like an expression of

perpetual surprise on their face. Come nightfall though, and they're every bit

as ferocious as they are cute, hunting down crickets, beetles, and small rodents.

But that's not all. Usually the owls kill their prey before bringing it home,

but if they're lucky enough to capture the little, warm-like reptiles known as

blind snakes, they deliver them to the chicks alive and wriggling. Summer gulped

down immediately, but others have time to escape by burrowing beneath the

woodchips, pellets, and other litter strewn across the floor of the nest. These

survivors feed on the insect larvae they find there. larvae that would otherwise

parasitize the owl nestlings. A study conducted by Baylor University

scientists found that Screech owl chicks grew faster and healthier, in nests

kept vermin-free by these domesticated blind snakes. Now that's what I call

Service.

For Bird-Node, I'm Michael Stein.

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