Barn owls in Maine are only found in southern York County.
Photo: wingsearch2020
This perching barred owl is probably waiting for an unsuspecting mouse below to become lunch.
Photo: USFWS
The “ears” on this great horned owl are actually feathered tufts that evolved to increase camouflage while perching in trees.
Photo: Jake Bobello-USFWS
By Kevin McKeon, Maine Master Naturalist
While gazing up at a starlit winter night sky, some of us may have recently heard calls of an owl. It’s breeding time for many of these large birds. A relatively easy owl call to recognize is the barred owls’ eight-hooter: “Hoo, hoo, hoo-hoo; hoo, hoo; hoo, hooo-aw!”, commonly called the “Who, cooks, for you? Who, cooks, for you, all?” Barred owls will often use abandoned nests of crows or other birds of prey, but their favorites are tree cavities that offer better protection from weather and predators. Since they’re adept hunters of rats and mice, they’re good to have around, so save those snags for them!
Eleven owls can be found in Maine. Some stop by during their migrations; some are quite rare and specific to certain habitats; others visit when their food source collapses, and others are here year-round. Our area holds about five species that are common, and a couple that visit every few years. Some others are considered a bit rare to Maine — like our barn owls (Tyto alba), which reach their northernmost range in southern York County. Interestingly, these are not “true” owls!
Our beautiful barn owls long ago separated from the true owls during their evolutionary growth, resulting in various anatomical differences: Most obvious are their heart-shaped heads and sound-channeling, disc-like facial features. They also have longer legs, very dark eyes (most owls have yellow eyes), and lack the feathered tufts that look like ears common to “true” owls. So, barn owls are taxonomically placed with about 20 other owls in the Tytonidae, or “barn owl,” family.
Due to many predatory adaptations, barn owls are known as the most silent hunters in the bird world. They are found world-wide, but indiscriminate use of rat poison and other persistent pesticides is killing them, hawks, eagles, and other critters as they eat dead, poison-laden rodents, becoming poisoned themselves.
Great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) chicks weigh about an ounce at birth and eat enough to gain that much each day during their first month! These owls are one of the few predators of skunks, and the earliest nesting birds in Maine. Along with the barred owl (Strix varia), they are the most widely distributed owls in the state, living in forests, open wooded areas, cemeteries, golf courses, and even some of the larger urban parks.
The eastern screech owl (Megascops asio) is also a permanent resident of Maine, but, like the barn owl, is found almost exclusively in the southernmost areas of York County. Northern saw-whet owls (Aegolius acadicus) can often be seen regularly as they migrate further south from their summer nests in Canada but quite often living around here year-round.
At up to 6 ½ pounds, snowy owls (Bubo scandiacus) are North America’s heaviest owls due to their dense, insulating feathers — even on their legs and feet. Their over inch-long toe feathers are the longest known of any owl’s toe. The great gray owl (Strix nebulosa), at 2 ½ feet, is Earth’s tallest owl, and generally shares the same northerly habitats as snowy and short-eared owls (Asio flammeus), sometimes nesting in Maine’s western mountains. These three can sometimes be found during the winter in our area’s open, frozen marshes and fields, and along beaches — especially during limited availabilities of lemmings and voles up in Canada’s tundra. During these lean times, they will migrate south to find other prey. Cornell Lab’s eBird Alert will let us all know where.
Owls have evolved to be exceptional hunters. Their head plumicorns act as added camouflage; large eyes enable exceptional night vision; fringed wing feathers give silence to an owl’s flight; 14 neck vertebrae (vs human’s seven) allow a 270º head rotation in each direction; the disc-like areas on some owls act to funnel sound waves to sensitive, offset ears, allowing some owls to hear a mouse half a mile away, its heartbeat 30 feet away, and in snow 2 feet deep; and zygodactyl talons adaptable to grip with exceptional strength in different configurations, while a powerful, hooked beak delivers the kill.
Owls are the only birds that blink like humans, by dropping their larger upper eyelids. But like all other birds, they have a third, translucent eyelid that acts for protection by closing during prey battles and during flight; it also cleans and moisturizes their eyes. All of these adaptations have given owls another well-earned name: “Terminators of the bird world”!
And while considering bird watching, these responsible bird-watching tips and kid-friendly videos are enjoyable for us all.
Snags: https://sanfordspringvalenews.com/out-in-the-woods-12/
eBird Alert: https://ebird.org/alerts
Bird Watching: https://ebird.org/region/US-OR/post/birding-ethics-guidelines-for-respecting-birds-their-habitat-and-each-other
Kid friendly videos: https://www.mindfulbirding.org/
The post You Never Know ‘Hoo’ You Might Hear in Our Woods appeared first on Sanford Springvale News.
