Killing Barred Owls

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed killing 470,000 Barred Owls over 30 years in three Pacific states in order to protect the Spotted Owl. Killing birds on purpose is a tough call. We have grown up in recent generations in which we protected birds. There are sanctuaries and laws, less hunting overall, and hopefully many fewer rogues caught up in illegal meat hunting, in superstition and rumor. I read over the blog ‘Conservation Sense and Nonsense’, a January 2024 treatise defending the Barred Owl’s invasion of the Pacific Northwest. I have to say I disagree with the premise that territorial expansion is Barred Owls is normal, ergo the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should not be killing Barred Owls. I think they should be killing the invader, and quickly.

Barred Owl range expansion

I do agree that territorial expansion is a natural state. Successive generations of members of the animal kingdom will expand their range into suitable habitat as a method of perpetuating the species. And that is fine as long as each species occupies its own niche.  But what happens when two closely related species use the same habitat, the weaker of the two is a threatened species, and the more aggressive of the two has no natural predator to keep its population in check?

 Spotted Owls are not the only species at risk. There appears to be little research, and therefore it is almost unknown to the public, of the impact the owls are having on a cast of small owls: Eastern Screech Owl, Western Screech Owl, and perhaps Northern Saw-whet Owl. All of these owls can be found in habitat that is suitable to Barred. (Note that Barred Owls are not found in arid or scrub regions of the country, so those populations of small owls are safe.)

Each ring indicates a Barred Owl
territory  with a 1 km diameter

I can attest to the decline of the eastern species through my own work over five years surveying Eastern Screech-Owl populations in my home county. That was complimented by a master’s candidate working on her thesis at the University of Georgia, along the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area of Fulton and Cobb Counties. Barred Owls are the only ones now to be found in otherwise compatible habitat for the screech-owl. They still exist here in Chatham County, but only in habitat such as second-growth pine forests, where Barred Owls are not found. They are even absent from the uninhabited barrier islands. Transient screech-owls in winter are occasionally caught by trail cameras, but they otherwise visit undetected since they don’t vocalize, and in my experience, don’t respond to playback.

I am not alone in trying to draw attention to this issue.  A correspondent of mine on Bainbridge Island just off Seattle has documented the precipitous decline of the Western Screech-Owls since 1990 – when the Barred Owl arrived. His paper can be found at:

 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259928248_Recent_Trends_in_Western_Screech-Owl_and_Barred_Owl_Abundances_on_Bainbridge_Island_Washington

As of 2021, according to my personal correspondence with the author, it was rare to find this once relatively abundant little owl anywhere in King County during the annual Christmas Count.

Since populations of the little owls may appear otherwise stable no one is spending time or effort to study these pockets of decline - yet. There is also a lame argument that eventually screech-owls will find ways to adapt.  When? I do have some reports of both screech and Barred Owls being found on the same territory, but that point-in-time is not very telling. It isn’t indicating which way the populations are trending. Even though this problem has evolved from a natural North American species, as opposed to an introduced invasive species like the Burmese Python, with no natural predators, one must arise.  That higher order predator, for better or for worse, must be man. 

Eastern Screech-Owl Nestling - 2008

Note: May 26

I heard back from the writer of the referenced blog post. A little snarky, suggesting the invasion of Barred Owl on the west coast was really natural selection. Of course USFWS doesn't see it that way at this point in time.  The writer also suggested that the years of experience those of had witnessing the decline of screech-owls was 'speculative'. So I found what I could about this individual, looking for credentials. I found nothing. Simply an ardent preachy conservationist.