Barred Owl Open and Shut

The barred owl has a facial disk. The disk is composed of feathers that grow around the owl’s head. These feathers help make the bared owl a skilled hunter. These feathers they say help direct sound to the bird’s ears. They say it is the same effect as cupping your hands behind your ears. The disk feathers allow them to hear the movement of a mouse in the grass, the flapping of feathers in the night, or the slithering of a snake in a tree or on the ground.

Barred Owl Open and Shut- In a brief window of light from the setting sun
Barred Owl Open and Shut- Cloudy

The hunter becomes the hunted in the Pacific Northwest. The government wants to cull barred owls. The barred owl is being blamed for the decrease in population of the spotted owl. The barred is more indigenous to the east coast, but has been moving over the the Pacific Northwest. Therefore, the US Fish and Wildlife wants people to kill 500,000 of them. It is very controversial as it will eliminate a species in one area to save another. What do you think?

13 thoughts on “Barred Owl Open and Shut”

  1. It is a harsh measure. If the barred owl moved West on its own, was that due to shrinking habitat in the East. We have barred owls here and I have seen them in Vancouver. Hope they make the right decision to preserve both species. Have a good weekend Sharon. Allan

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    1. I think if it’s due to shrinking habitat part of that may be all populations are on the rise- hawks, eagles, owls. Also they saw in some states loss of availability of land due to development. In NY there are wide areas of land that are forever wild and they restrict development. The Adirondack Park is just one area.

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  3. I was intrigued by this post and did a little bit of research. Apparently, human activity has removed natural barriers that kept the barred owls from moving into the west. Now they are taking over the already limited habitat and spotted owl populations are declining 2-9% every year. The spotted owls will soon be reclassified from threatened to endangered.

    Thankfully, the plan states that only trained people will be doing the culling, not just anyone with a hunting license.

    It’s sad to think of nearly 500,000 owls being killed though, even when I can understand the reasons for it.

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  7. So tired of the destruction for preservation argument, same with species-introduction for population control (ask Hawaii how that has turned out). The stupidity that humans can accurately predict the full consequences of their actions is the part that infuriates me. You can tell what side of the argument I am on, but out of my region so will let that play out to their benefit our downside.

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  8. “Two wrongs don’t make a right”, we shouldn’t kill a species to save a species in my opinion, but I don’t know what the best solution is, have to study what’s causing the migration too.

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