Strix varia

Fifty-four years ago H and I had been hiking a scenic trail in northcentral Pennsylvania and camped near a small spring on the edge of the Allegheny Plateau. We’d settled in and were asleep in our sleeping bags when we were jolted awake by a call that’s been described as “Who cooks for you, who cooks for you ALL!” sounding from right above our tent.

The origin of the nighttime racket that woke us was a barred owl (Strix varia) calling to another barred owl that answered from a distance. The back-and-forth calls continued for quite a while until our overhead neighbor moved on.

Barred owls favor forests of large trees, with a mix of hardwoods and conifers near streams, wetlands or wooded swamps, there they feed on small mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians – and even earthworms –

To produce the future generations of barred owls, the birds nest in a variety of locations – they sometimes use the abandoned nest of a hawk or crow (which they line with conifer twigs), but prefer a large tree cavity or nest box –

Some barred owls are surprisingly tolerant of humans, remaining perched on a limb and not flying off at the first sign of a person. A friend who rehabilitated injured birds from ducks to eagles always said that owls are stupid. That may or may not be true, but they’re certainly not as mentally capable as ravens or crows.

Barred owls range from southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and have recently extended their range to the west coast where they out-compete and sometimes hybridize with the smaller, related and endangered spotted owl.

Barred owls tend to be sedentary, not traveling much once they’ve established a territory, and do not migrate. They’re also long-lived, there’s a record of one living more than 26 years in the wild.

The birds hunt at night where their superb hearing enables them to detect prey moving amid fallen leaves or beneath snow. 

Daytime is spent roosting on a tree limb, often that of a conifer, or in tree cavities; they apparently mate for life and both birds of a mated pair often roost in close proximity.

Forests of large old trees are becoming scarce, and big trees with large cavities are especially uncommon in managed forests – where will the barred owls go?