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Owls are making a ton of noise lately!

Fledgling Barred Owl photo from Birds of North America Online

Hey Bridget - we have a ton of barred owls all of a sudden, it seems. We’ve seen some, once in a while and not too many, but the last few evenings they have been calling up a storm. Is it breeding season?

We’re on the east side of the MRV with a large tract of woods out back.

Thanks! Barclay

Hi Barclay,

Great to hear from you! Hope summer is being good to you in the Mad River Valley (MRV).

Nice - sounds like you’ve got some great evening entertainment coming from some Barred Owls. The end of the summer is the time when young owls are getting ready to go it alone. Breeding happens in late winter, hatching in early spring and fledging about a month or so after they hatch. Summer is time for the young to learn how to hunt and fly, and they continue to be fed by parents.

As we approach fall though, the parents will slow down their delicious deliveries and the immature owls will have to buck up and hunt for themselves. I’m sure that during the next few weeks we’ll hear lots of strange sounds in the woods with the immature owls trying to be convincing with their begging calls and the parents letting them know it’s time to fend for themselves.

Barred Owls are the most social and thus vocal of our region’s owls, so it makes sense a family getting ready to disperse for the fall would be hooting it up. ENJOY!

Click here for a link to some owl audio and listen to the baby Barred Owl screech.

Bird-on!

Bridget