Field Guide : Barred Owl
Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.
This color column has a dark background because the barred owl is primarily a nocturnal or crepuscular predator – crepuscular means twilight – but they will, on occasion, hunt during the day, especially during the spring, when barred owl parents are feeding growing owlets.
Like most other owls, barred owls are opportunistic predators with varied diets. Mammals make up the bulk of their prey, but they will also take insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles, worms, fish, crayfish, even earthworms, and more! They are perhaps best known for their primary hooting call, which is often described as Who cooks for you? Who cooks for yooooouuuuuuu? This hooted phrase is the reason one of the barred owl’s nicknames is “eight hooter.” The species has other calls and songs, however, including a curiously maniacal racket made when two barred owls perform a “duet.” That courtship song sounds a bit like a cross between a cat retching and a witch cackling, and is responsible for yet another barred owl nickname, “the laughing owl.” The bird’s common name is drawn from the russet and coffee “bars” on the owl’s head, neck, and back. While there are currently three subspecies of barred owl, they look and sound almost identical; the subspecies are differentiated by where they live and whether or not their toes are feathered or unfeathered.
Speaking of where they live, barred owls have greatly expanded their range over the last 100+ years, and this has given rise to a conservation controversy. Prior to the late 1800s, the species was found only in eastern North America. Since then, it has expanded its range west through Canada. Once it reached the west coast, it spread north and south, and now occurs from southeastern Alaska to central California. This means the barred owl shares habitat with the closely related and federally threatened Northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) and (proposed for threatened status) California spotted owl (S. o. occidentalis). Unfortunately, where they overlap, the larger, more aggressive barred owl tends to displace the spotted owls. Where they don’t displace their smaller relatives, they hybridize with them. As a result of this displacement and hybridization, the barred owl has become the subject of much management research and some drastic management efforts, including culling. Years of research on these culling efforts suggest they work. In areas where barred owls are shot by biologists, the barred owl population drops and the spotted owl population increases. A year ago, in June 2024,, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the best management strategy to protect the imperiled spotted owl is, indeed, barred owl culling; the agency has determined that a total of 450,033 barred owls need to be killed over the next 30 years. All conservation is about making choices, some of them very difficult. In this case, I’m ambivalent, as neither player was introduced to the habitats by humans, but one native species is plainly having a detrimental effect on another.
Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).
Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.
Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.
This color column has a dark background because the barred owl is primarily a nocturnal or crepuscular predator – crepuscular means twilight – but they will, on occasion, hunt during the day, especially during the spring, when barred owl parents are feeding growing owlets.
Like most other owls, barred owls are opportunistic predators with varied diets. Mammals make up the bulk of their prey, but they will also take insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles, worms, fish, crayfish, even earthworms, and more! They are perhaps best known for their primary hooting call, which is often described as Who cooks for you? Who cooks for yooooouuuuuuu? This hooted phrase is the reason one of the barred owl’s nicknames is “eight hooter.” The species has other calls and songs, however, including a curiously maniacal racket made when two barred owls perform a “duet.” That courtship song sounds a bit like a cross between a cat retching and a witch cackling, and is responsible for yet another barred owl nickname, “the laughing owl.” The bird’s common name is drawn from the russet and coffee “bars” on the owl’s head, neck, and back. While there are currently three subspecies of barred owl, they look and sound almost identical; the subspecies are differentiated by where they live and whether or not their toes are feathered or unfeathered.
Speaking of where they live, barred owls have greatly expanded their range over the last 100+ years, and this has given rise to a conservation controversy. Prior to the late 1800s, the species was found only in eastern North America. Since then, it has expanded its range west through Canada. Once it reached the west coast, it spread north and south, and now occurs from southeastern Alaska to central California. This means the barred owl shares habitat with the closely related and federally threatened Northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) and (proposed for threatened status) California spotted owl (S. o. occidentalis). Unfortunately, where they overlap, the larger, more aggressive barred owl tends to displace the spotted owls. Where they don’t displace their smaller relatives, they hybridize with them. As a result of this displacement and hybridization, the barred owl has become the subject of much management research and some drastic management efforts, including culling. Years of research on these culling efforts suggest they work. In areas where barred owls are shot by biologists, the barred owl population drops and the spotted owl population increases. A year ago, in June 2024,, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the best management strategy to protect the imperiled spotted owl is, indeed, barred owl culling; the agency has determined that a total of 450,033 barred owls need to be killed over the next 30 years. All conservation is about making choices, some of them very difficult. In this case, I’m ambivalent, as neither player was introduced to the habitats by humans, but one native species is plainly having a detrimental effect on another.
Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).
Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.
Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.
This color column has a dark background because the barred owl is primarily a nocturnal or crepuscular predator – crepuscular means twilight – but they will, on occasion, hunt during the day, especially during the spring, when barred owl parents are feeding growing owlets.
Like most other owls, barred owls are opportunistic predators with varied diets. Mammals make up the bulk of their prey, but they will also take insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles, worms, fish, crayfish, even earthworms, and more! They are perhaps best known for their primary hooting call, which is often described as Who cooks for you? Who cooks for yooooouuuuuuu? This hooted phrase is the reason one of the barred owl’s nicknames is “eight hooter.” The species has other calls and songs, however, including a curiously maniacal racket made when two barred owls perform a “duet.” That courtship song sounds a bit like a cross between a cat retching and a witch cackling, and is responsible for yet another barred owl nickname, “the laughing owl.” The bird’s common name is drawn from the russet and coffee “bars” on the owl’s head, neck, and back. While there are currently three subspecies of barred owl, they look and sound almost identical; the subspecies are differentiated by where they live and whether or not their toes are feathered or unfeathered.
Speaking of where they live, barred owls have greatly expanded their range over the last 100+ years, and this has given rise to a conservation controversy. Prior to the late 1800s, the species was found only in eastern North America. Since then, it has expanded its range west through Canada. Once it reached the west coast, it spread north and south, and now occurs from southeastern Alaska to central California. This means the barred owl shares habitat with the closely related and federally threatened Northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) and (proposed for threatened status) California spotted owl (S. o. occidentalis). Unfortunately, where they overlap, the larger, more aggressive barred owl tends to displace the spotted owls. Where they don’t displace their smaller relatives, they hybridize with them. As a result of this displacement and hybridization, the barred owl has become the subject of much management research and some drastic management efforts, including culling. Years of research on these culling efforts suggest they work. In areas where barred owls are shot by biologists, the barred owl population drops and the spotted owl population increases. A year ago, in June 2024,, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the best management strategy to protect the imperiled spotted owl is, indeed, barred owl culling; the agency has determined that a total of 450,033 barred owls need to be killed over the next 30 years. All conservation is about making choices, some of them very difficult. In this case, I’m ambivalent, as neither player was introduced to the habitats by humans, but one native species is plainly having a detrimental effect on another.
Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).
Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.