From the Contact Station May 2022

How to Spot an Owl?

As part of the preparation for re-opening the contact station, we decided we needed to update some of the tools we have used to help people find and identify wildlife. Our photos that helped people locate owls are seriously out of date as the five Great-horned Owls we could see maybe four years ago have moved their day roosts and nests.   So, in lieu of specifics such as “third tree on the right beyond post 6, 20 feet up with photos,”  we thought it would be useful to talk about How to Spot an Owl.

First, a little bit about what owls could be here. We have eight species that have been documented on the refuge.  The Great Horned Owl is our most frequently sighted owl. It is here year-round but not always seen and it does nest here.  The second easiest to find is the Short-eared Owl. Probably more abundant than the Short-eared Owl is the Barn Owl, but being a night owl (yes, pun intended) it is very hard to find with the limited visiting hours.

There have been few documented sightings of Barred Owl, Snowy Owl, and Long-eared Owl. All of these are considered accidental visitors, which means there are very few reliable records in a season. A Barred Owl has been showing up randomly. It has been known to nest in the wooded areas east of the Refuge along wooded creeks, but has only visited us less than a dozen times in the last fifteen years. It is worth keeping an eye out for this species, especially along the entry road and denser treed areas.  Everyone would love to find a Snowy Owl on the Refuge and finding any in the region would be amazing. We had one visit us in Dec 2011 and that is it.  Long-eared Owl is another accidental possibility. They hide in dense tree rows, something we don’t have a lot of here.  They are more likely to be found down in Vancouver Lake Bottoms.  There are some old sightings in e-bird of Screech Owl and one of Northern Pygmy Owl. These last two were heard birds, not sighted. We have a record of Northern Saw-whet Owls being heard on the refuge about eight years ago in fall. There is some thought by retired staff that they may indeed be resident as they tend to be year-round residents where they are found, not migrants.  But they have yet to be found.

So, how do we find an owl?

Let’s start with the Short-eared Owl. It is best seen in winter

hunting the short grasses along the auto tour route in early mornings or just before dusk.  Easily confused with the Northern Harrier, you want to look for the bigger head with no neck and the moth-like flight on thicker wings.  With our cloudy winters, sometimes it can be found during the day. But mostly, it likes to hide out in high grasses when it is daytime.  One winter we had the one pictured here roosting along the canal between numbers 11 and 12.  If you were on the passenger side of the car, you could get a good look at it most days.

Barn Owls are on the refuge but they are very hard to see as they tuck themselves away during the day. We can rely on them for the December Christmas Bird Count around the maintenance building on Bachelor Island and there has been evidence of them around the contact station at night.  I found an entire Barn Owl left wing behind the Kiosk one Sunday morning.  Barn Owls are both predators and prey, often sought after by Great Horned Owls. (Photo of a rare daytime Barn Owl sighting, taken in Woodland.)

The Great-horned Owl has adapted to a wide range of habitats and is found in every state of the US. For us, along the River S, they are usually seen tucked away in our ash forests.  Most Great-horned Owl populations are resident, that is they don’t migrate for breeding but stay year-round in one place.  Owlets that have fledged at five to six weeks, remain dependent on their parents for several months, and will not stray far from nest sites.  When the parents get tired of taking care of their offspring, they will disperse away from the nest area to encourage the young to move on and find their own territory.  Great-horneds don’t build nests, they use abandoned nests of crows, eagles, raptors, and squirrels or large hollows in trees as we saw last year on the River S in the woods beyond the Kiwa Trail parking lot.

This year, before the trees started to leaf out at the beginning of

April, a nest sitting parent was seen across Lake River on an abandoned heron nest at the south end of the rookery just north of the Bald Eagle nest (Photo with two owlets).  The newer nest site has a big advantage (for the owl) over last year’s nest as there is far less human traffic and disturbance.  For us, it is hard to see over the dike on the return road and may or may not provide views of owlets as they are likely branching now.

Generally, the Great-horned Owl spends the day roosting in a concealed location, high in thicker cover and close to the trunk of a tree.  I tell new visitors to look for a dark men’s size 12 shoe box shape sitting on its end on a horizontal branch.  When they sit with eyes closed and feathers sleeked down, their camouflage is excellent. It is always a good practice to check an area thoroughly, remembering to look behind you as you drive through the forested parts of River S.  Different angles can sometimes produce a silhouette that reveals the owl. When the female is on eggs or with the owlets, the male will perch close enough to keep an eye on things. So if you are fortunate to know a nest location, check all the surrounding trees for the second parent.

One of my first owl sightings on the refuge was when I heard a Red-shouldered Hawk going nuts in the ash forest near the Number 10 sign. It took me a bit to understand the excitement as I watched the hawk move around.  It was not happy about the presence of the Great-horned.  Watching the activity of other excited birds can lead to a nice owl find.  Crows are particularly adept at mobbing Great-horned Owls as the owls are a substantial threat to them.

Don’t always limit your search to the tops of the tree. As we move beyond nesting and fledging stages, the owls are sometimes found perched lower in the trees.  They might be at eye level.  It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen one perched low in the woods as I return along the Kiwa Trail (I have a habit of walking clockwise). Look back off the path toward the slough for the shoebox shape.

One owling trick is to look down on the ground, not up, as you walk through the woods.  Given the limited walking areas on the River S in close proximity to owl-likely trees, this is probably best tried on the Carty Unit paths or in other wooded areas of the metro area.  When owls eat their food, they regurgitate pellets containing animal parts they can’t digest such as bones and fur.  The pellets drop to the ground below their roosting perches. Finding a fresh pellet and slowly looking up can lead to the discovery of a well-fed owl above you.

Sound is one of the best ways to locate owls on the refuge or in your neighborhood for that matter. For the refuge, you must get here as the gate opens or leave just before closure.  Save a few minutes to listen at the end of the birding day for hoots.  If you don’t know how these owls might sound then visit the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology e-bird website, where you can find their library of bird calls and songs.  I would guess that if you live anywhere in the metro area near big trees, you are within hearing distance of at least a Great Horned Owl.

Wherever you are looking for owls, it is very important to recognize when your presence may cause a disturbance for the owl.  They are secretive for a reason.  It is most especially important when owlets are present as continued disturbance by human activity can disrupt the parental care of the owlet and, in the worst case, cause the owlet to be abandoned.  Last year’s owl nest is not occupied this year perhaps because there were far too many people stopping to get a look or photo of the cute as can be owlet.  Since Great-horned Owls tend to have fealty to territories over years, last year’s pair is probably still in the area; they have just made a better site choice for raising this year’s owlets.

As in the past, with this year’s reopening of the contact station, we will be happy to help point out the most likely places to see owls again once we find them, but only when we know they can be viewed from a safe distance and with little disturbance.  Good Owling to all.

Owl Fun Facts: 

The longevity record for a wild Great Horned Owl was 28 years for one originally captured in 1977 and then 28 years later in Ohio.  But the San Francisco Zoo had a female owl who made it to 50 years old, a record for the species.

The Barn Owl is among the most widely distributed land birds in the world, from the northern edges of the USA down through South America and on the Falklands.  The old world subspecies are found throughout the British Isles, Europe to Western Russia, through the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia to Australia.

The Barred Owl is a fixture of mature forests across the US.  It has exploded in range and numbers colonizing an enormous swath of the west in the past century to the detriment of the smaller Spotted Owl with which it directly competes.

-Susan Setterberg, Contact Station Volunteer
(images are credited in place)