Barred Owl

Peter K. Burian via Wikimedia

Strix varia

The first Barred Owl I encountered was a patient at Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary. I made a joke about how the Owl liked Shakespeare, playing on the Barred/Bard pun, but no one got it. Now I wonder how the animal had veered so far off course. They are found east of Kansas and make their way west through Canada into the Pacific Northwest.

Now that I am officially in their range, there is a mating pair that lives near my home. I can hear them calling to each other. Their call is described as, “who cooks for you?” which is fairly accurate. While I am normally irritated by things that keep me awake, I love hearing this pair.

I haven’t actually seen them yet. I had forgotten they are larger than Barn Owls. There are a number of tree green belts around where I live, which I’m sure is where they live. Barred Owls like mixed forests near water, and there is a lovely creek, although normally they prefer mature forests. They eat small animals and, like many species of owls, are cavity nesters; however, like species such as Great-Horned Owls, they will commandeer nests built by other species such as Red-Tailed Hawks.
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I’m going to keep looking for them in the evenings. For now, I will continue to listen to their nightly sonnets. 

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