Young Eastern Screech Owl Peering from Old Red-cockaded Woodpecker Nest Cavity in Longleaf Pine, Croatan National Forest, North Carolina - stock photo

A young Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio) peers out from the entrance of a weathered nesting cavity originally excavated by a Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus borealis) in a mature longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) in Croatan National Forest, North Carolina. This secondary cavity use highlights the vital ecological role of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, a federally endangered species that creates nesting and roosting cavities essential to a wide array of forest wildlife. Longleaf pine ecosystems, once covering vast stretches of the southeastern United States, have been reduced to a small fraction of their historic range due to logging, development, and fire suppression. Protecting these forests is critical not only for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers but for species like Eastern Screech Owls that rely on these cavities for shelter and nesting sites.