8 responses so far ↓

• 1 Ivy // Jun 12, 2009 at 11:29 pm

  I think they’re right! We’ve seen him down by Green Lake sporadically and heard his hooting, which pretty much verified it. (You can Google “barred owl song” to get an idea of what he sounds like — kinda cool.)

• 2 greenwonder // Jun 13, 2009 at 7:21 am

  Thank you for the photo and information. The abundance of wildlife in our neighborhood is truly fascinating. This is what I found on the website of Cornell Lab of Ornithology: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_Owl/lifehistory
  “Barred Owl populations have expanded westward in the last century. The more aggressive Barred Owl may displace the endangered Spotted Owl. Hybrids of the two species are also known.”

• 3 hooty // Jun 14, 2009 at 8:11 am

  this is an invasive species. someone should shoot it.

• 4 Jezabel // Jun 14, 2009 at 8:15 am

  To Mr/Ms. Hooty-

  Perhaps someone should do the same to you? Your comment feels pretty invasive here.

• 5 Trix // Jun 14, 2009 at 10:21 am

  To Hooty: Stupid Hippy, is that you?
  And since mankind is the most invasive species of all, I like Jezabel’s suggestion.

• 6 Obi Wan // Jun 15, 2009 at 12:16 pm

  Almost definitely a Barred Owl – dark eyes, light face and in the PNW. The only possibility is a Spotted, and that’s highly unlikely in the city.

  Staff/volunteers at the raptor exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo have mentioned to me that they have a Barred Owl come by with some frequency (causing a bit of a fluff up w/ the other raptors). My wife has seen a Barred flying free within the Zoo too.

  I’d love to see where it hunts. There are probably lots of good hunting spots in Woodland Park and plenty of bats around Greenlake in the evening. I haven’t heard reports of anyone seeing a barred owl hunting though.

• 7 hooty // Jun 16, 2009 at 12:02 pm

  Shooting next?
  Desperate government wildlife managers are now considering experiments of systematically shooting barred owls.
  In a preliminary test in Northern California, researchers shot seven barred owls near former spotted-owl nesting sites. Spotted owls returned to all the sites.
  Lowell Diller, a biologist with Green Diamond Resource Co., which owns the forest where the shootings took place, thinks it’s a worthwhile experiment, even if it’s controversial.
  “As a society we may choose not to control barred owls. But we ought to do it with the knowledge of what would it take and is it feasible,” he said.
  There’s a bloody history of killing one animal to help another. Brown-headed cowbirds are shot to protect songbirds, arctic foxes are killed for the sake of rare ducks, and some want to shoot sea lions feasting on Columbia River salmon.
  But Forsman, of the Forest Service, has his doubts.
  “You could shoot barred owls forever, and as soon as you quit they’re going to be right back.”

• 8 Ivy // Jun 19, 2009 at 3:47 pm

  Oh for crap’s sake, now we can’t even see a picture of a freaking OWL without it turning into a festival of blubbering agendas??

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