Owls

Joe Meche is a member of the board of directors of the North Cascades Audubon Society and has been the editor of the chapter newsletter for the past six years. Joe has been photographing birds and landscapes for over thirty years and has been watching birds for more than fifty years.

Many of us who enjoy watching birds have memories of specific moments in our lives that turned us into bird watchers. Vivid memories of close encounters with specific birds have often provided the answer to the old question, “What’s your favorite bird?” A late-night close encounter with a barred owl in an old cemetery, when I was about eight years old, turned me into a lifelong fan of owls, one of the most fascinating groups of birds. It was a frightening, yet seminal encounter for me and my cousins, Jimmy and Leonard. We exited the cemetery at legendary speed.

Owls date back to the Cretaceous Period, at a time almost coincidental to the demise of the dinosaurs. They are considered to be common ancestors of the nightjars and possess similar characteristics of diurnal predators such as hawks and eagles. Worldwide, there are approximately 164 species of owls and they are found on every continent except Antarctica. In North America, owls range in size from the great gray to the tiny elf owl of the desert southwest. All owls belong to the family, Strigidae, except for the barn owls, which belong to the family Tytonidae.

Owls are marvels of adaptive evolution and their senses of sight and hearing are exceptionally keen. Owls have large, forward-facing eyes, and have a third eyelid to protect their highly sensitive eyes from the bright light of day. The ear openings of many owls are asymmetrical and one is larger and shaped differently from the other, allowing the bird to detect exactly the distance and direction of potential prey.

The facial discs of owls are believed by some to function acoustically by collecting and focusing the sound waves as a further aid to prey detection. The effect would be similar to cupping a hand behind your ear. Serrations on the front edge of the first primary feathers on their wings allow them to fly silently in pursuit of prey. They dispatch prey with their strong feet and sharp talons.

Owls feed on a variety of prey, but primarily on small rodents and shrews. They will also take insects, reptiles, and birds. It has become a popular practice to identify an owl’s diet by dissecting regurgitated owl pellets. Owls swallow their prey whole and the pellets consist of bones and other indigestible parts of the prey.

Humans have been fascinated and even terrified by owls throughout history. There are certainly other creatures out and about in times of darkness, like bats, nighthawks, whippoorwills, and some mammals, but owls are the embodiment of nighttime. A few species of owls, such as the short-eared and the snowy, are diurnal, but most are nocturnal. The fact that owls are essentially birds of the night lends to the mystique that surrounds these denizens of the dark. Fossils quarried from Transylvanian limestone in Romania are said to belong to an owl known as Brandycneme draculae.

Throughout history, owls have been the source of love-hate relationships in many cultures. Owls have frequently been portrayed as symbols of wisdom and are probably the most represented birds of all in statues, posters, and advertising—mainly because they’re so recognizable. Owls were treated with appreciation and humor by the ancient Greeks, while the Romans saw them as omens of disaster and not all together good to have around.

Myths abound as to the power of owls, from the aphrodisiacal properties of owl meat to the medicinal qualities of specific owl parts to cure a variety of maladies from whooping cough to insomnia. Hollywood has used the calls of owls to further the illusion of darkness. What better setting for a Halloween movie than a haunted house with a barn owl in residence, or an old cemetery with a barred owl or, better yet, the whinny or rolling trill of an eastern screech owl?

Of the 19 species of owls that exist in North America, Whatcom County has recorded 12 of those species. The range of suitable habitat throughout the county is conducive to hosting good numbers of some species throughout most of the year. Other owl species are considered rare winter visitors to the area.

The wide-open spaces of the western lowlands host most of the species while a couple can be found at moderate elevations and, as in the case of the northern spotted owl, in old-growth forests. Data from past Bellingham Christmas Bird Counts points to barn owls being the most common, followed by great horned, short-eared, and screech owls.

One of the more spectacular owls is the snowy owl, which is considered to be an irregularly rare to common visitor to the county in winter. Snowy owls create quite the spectacle when significant numbers invade the area as part of an irruption from their northern haunts. An irruption is an irregular migration of sometimes significant proportion that occurs when the food source of a particular species runs low. In the case of the snowy owl, irruptions can occur when lemming numbers are low.

The fact that snowy owls hunt in the daytime makes them especially attractive to bird watchers. Snowy owls have a preference for open spaces that simulate their normal habitat on the tundra of the north country where they breed. Look for them in winter in the open areas of the western lowlands of the county. In the same habitat, keep an eye out for short-eared owls as well.

Aside from the owls that are active in the daytime, bird watchers are elated when they happen upon an owl that’s trying to catch a few winks in a day roost. Mobbing behavior by smaller birds should always be investigated since chickadees and robins, for instance, are always on the alert for predatory birds in their neighborhood.

A new aspect of bird watching that is gaining in popularity is owling or going on owl prowls. Aside from the added pleasure and excitement of going out in the darkness is the potential for finding owls in their dark world. Sounds are accentuated in the field at night and the sound of a pair of barred owls calling to each other is something you won’t soon forget.

One of the most memorable moments you can ever have in nature is to get an owl to return your call. While many people have a tendency to take tape recordings into the field to play owl calls, try learning a few and doing the calls yourself. With a little practice, you can become proficient with a few basic calls. Barred, great horned, screech, and pygmy owl calls are relatively easy to learn and you won’t have the hassle of dragging along the extra equipment.

Don’t overdo it with the calls, no matter your technique. Owls will defend their territory and too much or too loud calling will drive them to distraction and could even drive them away. Another important rule of thumb is to start with calling small owls first. Since large owls eat small owls, if you start with a great horned call, you’ll never hear a screech.

Another thing to do is to use the flashlight as little as possible and try to become part of the darkness. Don’t carry on conversations and travel as quietly as possible. Remember that sound is greatly amplified at night and you could scare away the very thing you’re trying to see or hear, and the critters that live in the dark can hear and see much better than you can.

Owls are protected by law but some people will shoot them if they feel the owls pose a threat to game animals or pets. As is the case with many bird species, the most significant threat to owls is habitat destruction. The plight of the northern spotted owl has been well-recorded, but another problem exists in the form of another owl. The spotted owl is now seriously threatened by the westward expansion of the range of the more adaptable and aggressive barred owl. Cavity nesting species are especially vulnerable, but nesting box programs are helping to provide nesting sites.

It’s always difficult to narrow the field and choose a favorite bird from a group of birds, but owls are always near the top of my list. Owls are surrounded by mystery and through adaptive evolution possess a formidable array of characteristics that enable them to fit into their chosen habitat. Their vision and hearing have no equal and their powerful bodies and sharp talons and beaks make them formidable predators. Their vocalizations can be entertaining and even a bit frightening in the right situation. The great horned owl is considered by many to be the most powerful and fiercest of predators in North America.

Owls are not only fascinating to observe and study but they also play an important role in the economy of nature. Ask any farmer about the benefits of having a resident family of barn owls, especially when you consider that one pair of nesting barn owls can eliminate more mice in one night than ten cats put together!