General

Spotted Owl: Medium-sized owl with white-spotted, brown upperparts and finely barred white underparts. Head lacks ear tufts. Eyes are brown. Wings are brown with white spots. Sexes are similar. Sometimes interbreeds with Barred Owls.

Range and Habitat

Spotted Owl: Found from southwestern British Columbia south through the mountains of Washington, Oregon, and California, the western slopes of Sierra Nevada, and the southern Rockies; also occurs in Utah and central Colorado through Arizona's mountain ranges, New Mexico, extreme western Texas, and central Mexico. Preferred habitats include dense, dark, old growth or mixed mature and old growth coniferous forests.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

Strong resonant hooting/barking with distinctive rhythm whup, hoo-hoo, hooooo or longer series.

Interesting Facts

 The Spotted Owl was reported in 1860 by Hungarian immigrant John Xántus de Vesey.  Other names include Canyon Owl, Brown-eyed Owl, Wood Owl, Pootie Owl and Hoot Owl.

 Unlike most owls, they may not defend their eggs and young from predators, instead watching from nearby as the nest is destroyed.

 There seems to be a correlation between prey size and breeding success. The average weight of prey items of 4.1 oz. were found for successfully breeding owls. An average weight of 2.8 oz. for prey items were found for owls that were unsuccessful breeding.

 The Spotted Owl may be the most publicized of all endangered species in North America. Because of its dependence on large tracts of old-growth coniferous forests, management for this owl has caused tremendous turmoil in the forest harvesting industry, resulting in a dilemma of “jobs versus owls.”

 A group of owls has many collective nouns, including "a bazaar of owls", "a glaring of owls", "a parliament of owls", "a stooping of owls", and a "wisdom of owls."

Author

Gary Owen Dick