Northern Spotted Owl
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| Strix occidentalis (Xantus de Vesey, 1860) |
The Northern Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis caurina, is one of three Spotted Owl subspecies. A Western North American bird in the family Strigidae, genus Strix, it is a medium-sized dark brown owl sixteen to nineteen inches in length and one to one and one sixth pounds. Females are larger than males. The wingspan is approximately forty two inches. Northern Spotted Owls are dark brown with round or oval white spots on the head, neck, back and have a whitish underbody with brown bars along the abdomen and chest. Their flight feathers are dark brown in color and have light brown or white bars. They have dark eyes contrary to most owls which have light eyes. The facial disk has white feathers around the eyes running down each side of the beak. They can survive in the wild for ten years and up to fifteen to twenty in captivity.
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[edit] Habitat
The Northern Spotted Owl primarily inhabits old growth forests and scientists believe that they can marginally exist in younger forests. Their range is the Pacific coast from British Columbia to central California. They nest in cavities or on platforms in large trees and will use abandoned nests of other species. They mate for life and remain in the same geographical areas year after year. Their habitat is being affected by a growing population of Barred Owls in regions that Northern Spotted Owls traditionally inhabit. Their habitat is also being affected by deforestation of old forests and hybridization with Barred Owls.
[edit] Diet
The Northern spotted owl is a nocturnal hunter. It is a carnivore and its diet consists of small rodents, wood rats, flying squirrels, and they will eat reptiles, birds and insects. They can swallow their catch whole and will spit out hair and bones. Males and females both hunt except during nesting. They can grasp prey on the ground and in flight.
[edit] Reproduction
Male and females mate in February or March and the female lays two or three eggs in March or April. The eggs incubate thirty days. After hatching the young owls stay with the female eight to ten days and fledge in thirty four to thirty six days. The hunting and feeding is done by the male during this time. The young owls remain with the parents until late summer to early fall. They leave the nest and form their own winter feeding range. By spring the young owls territory will be from two to twenty four miles from the parents.
[edit] Status
There are approximately three to five thousand pairs remaining in the wild, mostly in the states of Washington, Oregon and California. The Canadian population now numbers less than 20 birds.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Northern Spotted Owl on June 26, 1990 as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, citing loss of old-growth habitat as a primary threat. In 2004 the Service reaffirmed that the owl remained threatened, but indicated that the causes of endangerment had changed, mostly as a result of invasion by Barred Owls into the range and habitat of the Spotted Owl.
