New Visitor to Baltimore Woods

A few weeks ago, late in the day, I was finishing up a “weeding therapy” session along our Baltimore Path on the hill, when I heard a low, guttural call from the trees. Looking up, I saw the shadowy silhouette of an owl in profile, dark grey, and occupying a limb midway up a maple tree crowded amongst the others at the edge of the woods. In 30 years living across the street I’d never seen nor heard an owl, so it was a thrilling experience. Although bats commonly swoop in and out of the Decatur/Baltimore canopy on summer evenings, Cooper’s and Red Tail Hawks appear, only to be swarmed and driven away by crows, and it’s not unusual to see Bald eagles circling high above—once or twice even sitting at the top of the Doug Fir near Baltimore—this was the my first owl!

Later in the week, Portland Bureau of Environmental Services ecologist, Toby Query, and his crew came to bushwhack blackberries and ivy on the slopes along Decatur and Baltimore. When I described the owl to him: about the size of a large hen, lack of upright posture or “ear tufts” (Great Horned) and coloring, he said it was either a Northern Spotted, or a Barred Owl. Most likely, according to Toby, it was a Barred Owl. They are able to occupy a greater variety of habitats, have a more cosmopolitan palate and are generally more robust in exploiting territory and in mating than are Spotted Owls. Hence, the continued decline of the Spotted Owl, who prefer an ecosystem of old-growth forest and are more tentative about claiming and keeping territory and with mating calls. Toby, who had studied them in California, described Northern Spotted Owls as the “puppy dogs” of owl world. He experienced them at times acting curious toward people and showing playful behaviors.

There’s more comprehensive information about the increasing pressure on the Spotted Owls’ ability to continue as a species at www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/spotted-owl-and-barred-owl.htm.

Learn more about both the Northern Spotted and the Barred Owls, and others found in Oregon—plus the sounds of their calls at myodfw.com/wildlife-viewing/species/owls. Just for fun, compare the calls on the website with a recording of the call our visitor made. Who do you think it sounds like?…Who?