Barred Owl

Strix varia

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 acclimatise 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. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 797,593 times across 57 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 14°C (typically 4 to 29°C, from 20 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.