Barred Owl..not a Barn Owl and Not a Hoot Owl

Barred Owls are apparently doing well in the wild in the U.S.A and north into Canada.  Look at a map and draw a line up the middle of Texas into southern Canada:  Every place on the right has Barred Owls in the woods, hunting rodents at night and silently flying into deeper cover when people get close. They have better to do than pose for us and get flashlights in the eyes.   The far Northwest deep into western Canada is also home to Barred Owls.  Hear that hoo  hoo   hoo hoo hoo?  That hoot owl is not a Barred Owl and is likely a Great Horned Owl.  Barred Owls have a strange and different call.   Typically, it is described as  who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks-for-you-all.  I don’t believe it!  The call I hear is almost scary and strong and that owl is not cooking.   You can hear calls on the Cornell websites for different owls.  Try making an owl call.  Go ahead and do it.  You can sound close enough to a Barred or Great Horned owl to get an answer in the woods and that is neat.  Yes, practice your call and they will answer. Call and they will answer. It is a woods of dreams, owls and owl pellets.

This is Martha, a Barred Owl. That reflection in her left eye is a special eyelid called a nictitating membrane, an extra eyelid some animals have which helps clean, moisturize and protect the eye. You do not see this eyelid in the first photo. Even so, she is bind in that eye and could not make it in the wild. Her left eye does look slightly different in its reflections. She does very well at the raptor center and is a super star at educational programs. She was brought to the center in April of 2006. About 5 years old now, she is a youngster compared to Mildred the Red-tailed hawk in the previous post.  Martha does great with the ladies at the center and with the kids who clean the living area and bring her food. As for me..I get near and she makes loud clicking sounds with her beak, a sound that is scary the first time you hear it. (Most owls will make this defensive sound.)  Maybe she does not like my camera. Is it my looks?  Surely it is not my looks.   Whatever the reasons, she is saying, “Tom, go away now!"...and he goes away. At public shows, she is calm, does not click and is a fine owl willing to have her photo taken and lets her handler show off her ears hidden beneath thick head feathers.  She will turn her head around and it will be backward on her body to take a quick peek behind.  Other owls do this, too, having twice as many neck bones as we do.  We have the same number as a giraffe and they cannot turn their head all the way to the back, either.

                                                   

These birds are strong and good hunters. See the  two talons while she is on a perch?   She has four like a hawk but owls prefer to put two forward and turn one to the back when perching.  Talons are made for fetching dinner and that is not hard to imagine. 

This hunter of the night flies from a perch over a field or through the forest trees making no sound as it passes right by to nab a tasty delight. This night hunter owl weighs how much do you think?  Strong hunter, spooky strange hooty sounds at night, flying with no sound on wings 38 to 45 inches tip to tip…you guess the weight, fair enough?.  The answer is below and unlike in the comics is not turned upside down.

 

Barred Owls weigh an extreme of 500 gm to 1050 gm with average being about 780 gm or 1 ¾ pounds for a female..  The females are the largest as is true with other raptors.  

LAST CHANCE FOR FUN, AMAZE YOUR FAMILY, MAKE CHILDREN STARE AND NEIGHBORS HIDE TO PEEK FROM CLOSED CURTAINS...

Do you think you can sound like a chicken  and moo like a cow? They don't care to answer, do they.  Humm..go to the web and listen then practice those owl calls. Don't mind people giving you strange looks because you have the secret. In a nice mid-evening woods away from the traffic and people, let it loose!  This is a good time to try and you really might hear an answer.  If an owl answers, will it be worth it? Yes.