Halloween Owls

Halloween, 31 October 2019, found Erika and me at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. A woman came down the boardwalk and told us, “there’s a Barred Owl just ahead—look for all the people!” We are not sure we would have found the owl without the birders, who subsequently took us to see a Great Horned Owl about a 16th of a mile further down the walkway.

The proximity of the two large owls surprised me. I thought that Great Horned Owls displaced Barred Owls from shared woodlands. A quick review of the Internet suggests that the situation is complicated. The Audubon Society writes that Barred Owls are less aggressive and competition between the two species may drive Bared Owls out of more open woods. Great Horned Owls are “the most serious predatory threat to the Barred Owl” (Cornell). Nevertheless, this source informs us that when the two owls live in the same areas, Barred Owls will often move to another part of their territory when a Great Horned Owl is nearby. On the other hand, (Artuso et al. 2001) report an “exceptional record” of the two owls nesting successfully in the same tree.