Screech Owl Webcam – Watch Pennsylvania Owls Roost and Nest

The Screech Owl Webcam streams from the Eastern Screech Owl Research Project, a set of camera-fitted owl boxes that PixCams runs in a rural, wooded part of southwestern Pennsylvania. Four live views share the player: an outside pan-tilt-zoom camera that the operator steers to follow owls moving between the boxes, plus cameras inside Owl Box 4, Owl Box 8 and Owl Box 9. The box views are close and quiet, looking down on dry grass and leaves or out through a bright entrance hole. Owls use the boxes to roost through the colder months and to nest in spring, so an empty box in summer or early fall is normal. Each camera is a separate stream, so when one player shows a standby card the others can still be live.

About the PixCams Screech Owl Project

The project began by accident. During the fall of 2011 an Eastern screech owl turned up roosting in one of the nest boxes PixCams had put up, and a webcam went into that box soon after. On advice from Dick Byers, whom the operator credits as its local screech owl expert, more boxes followed in the same woods. Nine artificial owl boxes now carry small cameras, spread over about 4 hectares (10 acres) of a study area that covers roughly 12 hectares (30 acres). The exact site is not published, so the map pin on this page marks the region only.

The box cameras also capture a still photo each time an owl enters or leaves a box, which shows when each box is used, and in nesting season how often the adults bring food and what the prey was. The owls use different boxes for roosting, nesting and caching prey. The outside camera is a 10 centimeter (4 inch) dome with built-in infrared illuminators and a microphone, linked to the router by about 213 meters (700 feet) of Ethernet cable run through the woods.

The bird itself is small. An Eastern screech owl measures 16 to 25 centimeters (6.5 to 10 inches) long, with a wingspan of 46 to 61 centimeters (18 to 24 inches), and weighs 121 to 244 grams (4.3 to 8.6 ounces). It comes in a gray form, more common in the north of its range, and a rufous red form that is more common in the south. It does not migrate, and it hunts insects such as moths, beetles and crickets as well as mice, voles, shrews, small songbirds and even crayfish.

Weather and Climate in Southwestern Pennsylvania

The region has four distinct seasons. Around Pittsburgh, January averages a high of 4 C (39 F) and a low of minus 5 C (23 F), and about 112 centimeters (44 inches) of snow falls in a typical year. That cold stretch is the best time to watch the Screech Owl Webcam. PixCams puts the winter roosting period between October and March, with the boxes most often occupied from late December to mid-February. A roosting owl stays in its box until dark, and it often sits at the entrance hole for half an hour to an hour before settling in or flying off.

Spring brings the nesting period, which runs from March to June, with eggs in March and owlets in the box by late April. July is the warmest month, with highs near 29 C (85 F) and lows around 18 C (65 F). By then the boxes are usually empty. After dark the infrared lights on the outside camera take over, so its night views can turn black and white.

Things to Do in Southwestern Pennsylvania

Powdermill Nature Reserve near Rector is the field research station of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and its bird banding program, started by Robert C. Leberman in 1961, is the longest continually running banding program in the United States. By the end of 2025 it had logged more than 660,000 original bandings covering 190 species, and its records show birds now breeding about a month earlier than they did in 1961. Much of that banding happens during spring and fall migration, when warblers such as the blackpoll pass through the Laurel Highlands on journeys traced on our bird migration map.

The Laurel Highlands spread across Fayette, Somerset and Westmoreland counties and parts of Cambria and Bedford. The area holds Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Fayette County, along with Ohiopyle State Park, the Great Allegheny Passage trail and the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail in Laurel Ridge State Park. Mount Davis in Somerset County is the highest point in Pennsylvania at 979 meters (3,213 feet). In winter the ski slopes open at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Hidden Valley Resort and Laurel Mountain Ski Resort.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

For more owl boxes and Pennsylvania wildlife, try these cameras next.

• Florida Barn Owl Webcam
• Elk Country Visitor Center Webcam
• Fallingwater Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Screech Owl Webcam located?

The boxes stand in a rural, wooded area of southwestern Pennsylvania, USA, the region whose main city is Pittsburgh. PixCams does not publish the exact site, so the map pin is an approximate regional marker.

What can you see on the Screech Owl Webcam?

The first tab is the outside pan-tilt-zoom camera, which the operator moves to watch owls hunt and go in and out of the boxes. The other tabs look inside Owl Box 4, Owl Box 8 and Owl Box 9. Out of season the boxes show nest material such as dry grass, twigs and leaves, lit by daylight through the entrance hole. In roosting and nesting season an owl, a pair or a brood of owlets can be inside.

Why is the screech owl box empty?

The owls only use these boxes for part of the year. They roost in them between October and March and nest from March to June, so a box can sit empty for weeks in summer and early fall. Other animals have moved into a box in past years, too.

When do screech owls nest in Pennsylvania?

At this study site the female is usually back by mid-March, eggs are typically laid by the third week of March, the chicks hatch in late April and the young fledge around late May or early June. Across the species, incubation takes about 26 days and owlets leave the nest about 31 days after hatching.

Have owls nested in these boxes before?

Yes. The PixCams season records list screech owl nests in 2013 and in most years from 2017 to 2026.

What does an Eastern screech owl sound like?

The two usual calls are a descending, whinny-like tremolo and a steady purring trill that lasts three to five seconds. The outside camera has a microphone, so calls can come through the player at night.

What is the weather like in southwestern Pennsylvania?

Winters are cold and snowy and summers warm and humid. Pittsburgh averages a January high of 4 C (39 F) and a July high near 29 C (85 F).

Who runs the Screech Owl Webcam?

PixCams operates the owl boxes and streams them on its PixCams Nest Boxes YouTube channel, with advice from local screech owl expert Dick Byers.

Source: PixCams