Birds of Central Oklahoma

All birds Owls

Barred Owl, adult
Adult Photo by Mdf. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Barred Owl

Strix varia

Here all year.

Recorded by Jacob Saucier. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, via xeno-canto, trimmed and volume evened out.

Look for

  1. A big, round head with no ear tufts. Its eyes are dark.
  2. Bars that run side to side across the top of its chest.
  3. Stripes on its belly that run up and down.

A little about it

Barred Owls live here all year. In winter, some wander away from the woods where they nested.

Listen for a loud, barking hoot: "hoo, hoo, hoo-hoo; hoo, hoo; hoo, hooo-aw!" A pair often calls back and forth, as if they're talking. You may even hear one in the daytime.

This owl hunts at night or in the day. It may hunt most at dawn and dusk. It watches from a perch, or it flies low through the trees. It eats lots of mice, plus squirrels, rabbits, and even opossums. It catches frogs, snakes, crayfish, and fish too.

The nest is in a big hole in a tree, or in a broken-off tree trunk. Sometimes the owl moves into an old nest built by a hawk, crow, or squirrel. The female lays 2 or 3 white eggs and keeps them warm for 4 or 5 weeks. The male brings her food. The young can fly at about 6 weeks old.

Fun fact

A Barred Owl may move into an old Red-shouldered Hawk nest. Sometimes the hawk and the owl take turns with the same nest, one year after the other.

When it's here

Taller bars mean more sightings. Most often seen in December.

Birds by season

How big

SparrowRobinCrowGoose

17 to 20 inches, with wings more than 3 feet across. About as big as a crow. Females are bigger than males.

Where to look

Big, thick woods, most of all low, wet woods near rivers and creeks. Listen for its loud hoots at night.

  • In the woods
  • On or by water

People have spotted it at Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge, Martin Park Nature Center.

Could it be something else?

  • Great Horned Owl

    A little bigger, with 2 tall ear tufts on its head. Its belly has bars that go side to side. A Barred Owl's belly has stripes that go up and down.

  • Barn Owl

    Its head is round with no ear tufts too. But its face is white and shaped like a heart, and most of its body is white. It hisses instead of hooting.

Where these facts come from