Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 14
Barred Owl
John James Audubon, Draw
Bird

Barred Owl

Strix varia
Owls (Strigidae)
Year-round resident. Expected at the creek in every month.
Field marks
A large, round-headed owl with no ear tufts, dark brown eyes, and brown-and-white barring across the chest and streaks down the belly: the face of someone who has just asked you a question and is prepared to wait.
Male & female
Alike; the female is larger.
Voice
'Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?' in a rich hooting rhythm, plus wild cackles and caterwauling when pairs duet, which can sound like monkeys and has alarmed many campers.
Diet
Mice, voles, squirrels, frogs, crayfish, birds; hunts from a perch at night and sometimes by day.
Habitat
Mature mixed forest near water, which describes a wooded creek exactly.
Nesting
A large natural cavity or old hawk nest; 2–3 eggs in March.
Size
16–20 in long, a 3½-ft wingspan, 1–2¼ lb: about a bag of sugar, with the wingspan of a bath towel and the face of someone who cooks for you.

An eastern species that spread across Canada and arrived in Washington in the 1960s; it now competes with, and sometimes displaces, the Northern Spotted Owl.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 10 calls on 3 days, first Oct 28, last Oct 31

2400:00 — 0 calls001:00 — 0 calls02:00 — 0 calls03:00 — 0 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 1 calls06:00 — 0 calls607:00 — 0 calls08:00 — 0 calls09:00 — 0 calls910:00 — 0 calls11:00 — 0 calls12:00 — 0 calls1213:00 — 0 calls14:00 — 0 calls15:00 — 0 calls1516:00 — 0 calls17:00 — 0 calls18:00 — 0 calls1819:00 — 2 calls20:00 — 4 calls21:00 — 2 calls2122:00 — 0 calls23:00 — 1 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
25Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 1 callsOct 29 — 0 callsOct 30 — 4 callsOct 31 — 5 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

Recordings

Clearest recording · Oct 31 5:16 am · 97% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 9:04 pm · 91% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 8:55 pm · 93% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 30 8:54 pm · 94% sure
spectrogram

From the encyclopedia

The barred owl, also known as the northern barred owl, striped owl, or more informally, hoot owl or eight hooter, is a North American large species of owl. A member of the true owl family, Strigidae, they belong to the genus Strix, which is also the origin of the family's name under Linnaean taxonomy. Barred owls are largely native to eastern North America, but have expanded their range to the West Coast of North America, where they are considered invasive. Mature forests are their preferred habitat, but they can also acclimate to various gradients of open woodlands. Their diet consists mainly of small mammals, but this species is an opportunistic predator and is known to prey upon other small vertebrates such as birds, reptiles, and amphibians, as well as a variety of invertebrates.
From Wikipedia, "Barred owl", CC BY-SA 4.0.