barred owls can't wait for spring

Several years ago, famed local wildlife rehabilitator, Fred Homer commented: "It's a bad time for barred owls when they are on the front page of the Reformer". What Fred meant was if there were enough people seeing owls out during the day to get a picture onto the front page of the local paper, those owls were working some extra shifts.

Most effective hunting at night, a barred owl's sensitive hearing and silent flight combine to make them incredibly effective predators of rodents and other small animals. Even a covering of snow is not protection against this perfect combination of adaptations. The price that the wing and feather structure must pay to achieve this silence is speed and maneuverability. This makes daytime hunting a challenge to the owls. Their prey can see them coming before they get there and flee.

When there is a thaw in the winter and snow melts and then refreezes, the snow develops a hard crust on the surface. Sometimes strong enough to support an adult human, sometimes almost strong enough to support

us which makes walking in the woods very unpleasant. These conditions are even worse for the owl. The crust provides a solid barrier that even a large (2 pound) barred owl cannot break through. And the rodents are safe, the owl is hungry.

Over the past week there has been a barred owl hanging around the overlook during daylight hours. At first we thought he'd been hit by a car and then wondered if there was a roadkill there that he was scavenging. (Unusual behavior for an owl, but winter is hard) Then we really looked. The south-facing hillside was clear of snow. It was the only place he could hunt unless some rodent made the very bad decision to come out from under the crust and run around on the surface.

On the first day he looked pretty rough, being out in the rain didn't help.

Two days later, he was still moving slow, but has improved a lot since then.

Over the past few days we have noticed that he appears to be doing better and has not been there as regularly. As we have been paying so much attention and watching for him regularly we found an owl pellet. It was sitting on the railing as if to show us "I am eating". As the snow melts his options will increase and he can stop spending days alongside the road.