A Surprising Backyard Visitor

Last fall, my mom went outside and was excited to see a barred owl in a tree in our backyard. We rushed to get our cameras. He sat there for about 10 minutes just looking around while we photographed him. Then he flew away to our neighbor’s backyard, and later she told us the owl took a long nap.

We have seen owls in our neighborhood a couple of times before. Our backyard is a wetland, which is one of the barred owl’s local habitats. They are also found in dense forests, such as woodlands and deciduous forests.

The barred owl’s native range includes eastern parts of the United States and southern parts of Canada. But due to logging and development the barred owl has spread its range into western parts of the United States, including Oregon, where we live. I found a book from 1971 that includes a map of the barred owl’s habitat, and the western U.S. wasn’t even part of their range yet.

Barred owls can grow between 16-25 inches. They are white with stripes that range from hazel to brown. 

Barred owls mostly eat small mammals such as rodents. They can also eat small birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects, crustaceans, and fish.  Our backyard wetland is habitat for most of the prey in the barred owl’s diet (except for crustaceans and fish!). 

It is believed that barred owls mate for life, and they sometimes hunt in pairs. We have heard them at night calling out to each other. Some people think one of the barred owl’s calls sounds like, “Who cooks for you?”

The barred owl mates between March and August. They will nest in tree cavities 20 to 40 feet high. They will also sometimes use platforms or steal nests from other large birds. They have one brood a year and usually lay 2-3 eggs per brood.

There are concerns about the barred owl’s increasing range. It now competes with other owls (including the spotted owl) in its new habitat, and that puts the native owls in danger.

The government has proposed a plan to kill as many as 400,000 barred owls over the next 30 years to try and protect our native owls. I think that they should capture owls and relocate them back to forested areas where they used to live or put them in a sanctuary.

If you want more information about the problem, click here: How is Oregon's spotted owl doing, decades after protections? | kgw.com