By Kristine Adel
The easiest way to find out if you have Barred Owls nearby is to sit quietly outdoors and listen – maybe enjoy an early morning with coffee, or take your dessert outside after supper. You can’t mistake their song, it sounds a little like someone calling, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?”
To hear a recording, visit https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_Owl/sounds.
If you hear one, you will probably hear another, as most nesting pairs stay together for life in the same five square miles where they were hatched. And what a life they have together, raising a brood of chicks every Spring for twenty or more years!
You may hear calls throughout the entire day even though they are typically roosting and resting high up in the trees until the sun goes down. Nesting pairs will often establish territories quite close to each other. None the less, they prefer to stay out of one another’s way, and calling helps everyone keep track of where everyone else is.
Their calls also give us a general idea where to start if we want to take a closer look. Caution if you go looking, however, especially this time of year: Take a pair of binoculars or a camera with a good zoom lens. Be careful not to get too close or stay too long.
Right now, Mother Owl isn’t moving from her nest in her chosen tree cavity to hunt, eat, or even stretch her wings. She’s busy laying up to five eggs (usually two) to sit for the next month. Once the owlets hatch, she will remain there for several more weeks keeping them warm until they are fully fledged.
That leaves Father Owl quite busy finding and delivering small mammals, birds, reptiles, and even little fish to feed them both, right into summer.
If you do spot Father Owl in the canopy, you will know him by his white and brownish-gray streaked, banded, spotted, and dotted feathers, along with his yellow beak, feathered feet, and the horizontal bars across his fluffy neck. He’s a medium sized, handsome fellow about 18 – 19 inches tall, with a round head and dark brown eyes. He can spread his magnificent wings over a full yard wide to glide silently overhead, or just sit on his perch looking regal.
Watch to see how he reacts to your presence. Often he won’t even look at you if he doesn’t feel threatened. Danger for full grown Barred Owls generally comes from above in the shape of larger Hawks and Great Horned Owls. If he seems interested in you, if he’s watching you intently, or if he’s unnerved enough to take flight, you’ll want to give him more space.
He and the Mrs. deserve a bit of peace whenever they can get it. They already have plenty to contend with as hungry weasels and raccoons rummage through every tree cavity in the woods looking for a meal.
It’s not easy to hide an Owl nest from predators, or anyone who knows what to look for. Even though Mother Owl keeps a tidy house on the inside, the outside of her tree is likely covered with so much excrement, bird watchers refer to it as whitewash.
At the base of the tree, there will probably be a pile of pellets as well. What is a pellet? Pellets are what happens to all the things an Owl eats that can’t be digested; and since Owls generally swallow all their small prey whole, that’s a lot of stuff. Each pellet is a tidy little regurgitated package of bones, and teeth, and fur, etc., all stuck together with a bit of dried vomit.
Dissecting pellets is one way scientists gather information about an ecosystem. But the very presence of Barred Owls in the woods is generally an indicator of a healthy Forest that supports both old growth and renewal with a wide variety of plants and animals.
Barred Owls have existed in our eastern forests for at least 11,000 years. In the last 200 years, their populations have pushed north and west, probably as the result of fire suppression creating corridors of habitable forests and older trees that naturally develop cavities as they age.
Not all wooded areas are suitable. If you spend several days listening for Barred Owls, but don’t hear any calling in your area, and you still think they would make good neighbors, you might consider trying to attract a nesting pair this fall by installing a nesting box 12 to 15 feet high in a nearby wooded area.
Plans for constructing the boxes are available from many sources on the internet. These boxes are generally at least 23” tall and at least 13” x 13” wide and deep, with a 7” diameter hole, somewhat taller than wide to mimic the opening of a natural tree cavity.
Join the Patrick County Master Gardeners for further discussions about feathered neighbors and all things garden on WHEO, Tuesday Morning, March 24. Mark your calendar for the last Saturday in April for the PCMGA Annual Spring Plant Sale. Look for us on Facebook. Contact us at patrickmastergardeners.org
