The owl did not take flight when approached. I went about various projects after having been away for an extended time and hoped that the owl might recover from whatever was the cause of its ailment. But I was aware that this owl was under some significant distress. Alas, whatever ailed our visitor resulted in the owl dying the next night.
I find it difficult to spot owls perched in the forest so am uncertain of our very local barred owl population. More often I hear great horned owls and only very occasional will hear a barred. This is the first barred owl I have seen at our house. I have seen great horned owls perched on the same wheel barrow in the picture above.
Barred owls are relatively new arrivals to Washington State. They have expanded their range from eastern North America to across Canada to the Pacific Northwest. The arrival of barred owls has been one of the causes of the decline of spotted owls. Weins and others (2021) evaluated lethal removal of bared owls on spotted owl survival.
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