Barred Owl

February 25th

          We recently received a tip about where to find a Barred Owl at Sidecut Metropark.  We arrived at the spot and initially could not find the owl.  All of a sudden, we saw a bunch of Blue Jays surrounding an area and making an awful racket.  This behavior is called mobbing and certain birds like Blue Jays and Crows will mob an owl or hawk and harass them.  Sure enough, the jays were mobbing the Barred Owl which flew higher in a pine tree. We were able to get good looks and a photo.  We were very excited.

          A Barred Owl is a medium sized owl with a round head and dark eyes.  It got its name because of the barring on its breast.  It doesn’t have tufts on its head like its larger cousin the Great Horned Owl.  Barred Owls can be heard calling at night and sometimes during the day with their familiar hooting call hoo hoo ho-ho, hoo hoo ho-hoooooaw (“who cooks for you, who cooks for you all”).  They usually nest in a tree cavity and are mostly nocturnal.  Their diet consists of many mice and other small rodents, squirrels, rabbits, possums etc.  They also eat various birds, frogs, snakes, lizards, and insects.  We have now seen all the regularly occurring owls of Ohio except the Barn Owl which is more common in southern Ohio.

 (1 new species, total 129)   

                               Barred Owl 

                                                                    Barred Owl

                                                        Red-tailed Hawk (juvenile)


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