2017-10-01 Birds & Bloom

BARRED OWLS
Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you allll? This is the eerie-
sounding call of the barred owl, heard throughout forests in the
eastern United States, southern Canada and increasingly the
Pacific Northwest. The expansion of barred owls into Washington
and Oregon is a threat to spotted owls, because the larger and more
aggressive barred owls displace the spotted species. Meanwhile,
barred owls have a threat of their own to fear, as nearby great
horned owls are among their major predators.
Although barred owls have moved into other states, these birds
are homebodies. They don’t migrate, and of 158 banded barred owls
who were found later, none had moved farther than 6 miles away.