Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you aaaaall? Listen for screams and barks, too.
This is the call that one expects to hear in the deep wooded areas of the country. A Barred Owl will sit upon a perch near the trunk of a tree awaiting prey to appear in front of it on the ground. Then it silently drops upon its victim. Depending upon the season, it does basically the same thing, but the real treat is to observe it perched over water fishing. Running after small mammals or reptiles will have you cheering for the raptor, even possibly becoming amusing at the antics.
It is a somewhat easy woodland owl to be heard, but not always easy to locate. An area chicken farmer invited me to visit around dusk while he was still living near me, and he said that I would surely see this raptor. He was correct, but it moved shortly after he did. It was one that I'd been hearing for years, even as close as my neighbor's yard in an old, large oak.
Barred Owl, Light Adult
Payne County CBC, 2017
Barred Owls and Great Horned Owls are mortal enemies. They will not normally be seen in the area of one another, so if you have one, you'll not have the other, unless the Great Horned Owl wishes to dine upon a nestling.
Nearly any mature forest with an open understory should net you this solitary visitor. They will hunt small mammals, and most are nocturnal.
Barred Owl, Dark Adult
Sequoyah NWR, Vian, OK
Nesting occurs in a tree cavity or a hole in a broken limb, and occasionally even in the top of a broken snag.
They are considered an invasive species in the west, especially the northwest, where they have been providing competition for their native Northern Spotted Owl. The Northern Spotted Owl is a threatened species in the old growth coniferous forest. They will hybridize with the spotted owl, which also helps to threaten the purity of the species.
The female is larger than the male, and they have feathers over the feet and legs.
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