Stats

Lifespan

10-20 yrs

Size

Large

Diet

Carnivore

Activity

Nocturnal

Social

Pair

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

North America

Movement

Flight

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Camouflage

Status

Common

About

The Barred Owl is named for the horizontal brown bars across its chest and gets its nickname "hoot owl" from its distinctive call, often described as sounding like "Who cooks for you?" It has expanded its range across North America, now overlapping with and sometimes displacing the Northern Spotted Owl.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   One or two eggs are incubated on a high stick nest or cliff ledge, guarded closely by the pair.
2. 2.
   hatchling

   A downy hatchling is fed torn meat by its parents and grows quickly in a high nest.
3. 3.
   juvenile

   A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest, learning to soar and to make its first kills.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown, hunting on its own with adult plumage.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Strigiformes

Family

Strigidae

Genus

Strix

Species

Strix varia