Three owl species are common here

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This Barred Owl is the most common of three owl species found here in Middlebury. This one was seen during the 2015 Great Backyard Bird Count. (Tara Fuller photo)

By JANINE SULLIVAN-WILEY

Owls have long been creatures of myth and fable. Some myths portray owls as omens of death while others say their hoots ward off evil. They are symbols of wisdom and prophecy. They are featured as magical companions (Hedwig and others in the Harry Potter stories) and even have a book series of their own (The Owls of Ga’Hoole, for middle schoolers).

The very special characteristics of owls may have contributed to their mystery: they are mostly nocturnal hunters, and the unique structure of their flight feathers (fringed) renders their flight virtually silent. Their large heads can turn almost 270 degrees, but their large eyes are almost immobile, so when they look around or cock their heads to hear they make a very unusual sight.

Three owl species are most likely to be heard or seen in this part of Connecticut: the Great Horned Owl, the Barred Owl and the Screech Owl. During a recent Middlebury Land Trust sponsored Owl Prowl in the Sperry Preserve one frigid evening, the leader, Ken Elkins, shared information about owls and their calls, but the only sighting was a probable Barred Owl. Elkins is the community conservation manager for Audubon Connecticut and is based at Bent of the River in Southbury.

Elkins said the largest of our local species is the Great Horned Owl, sometimes called the Tiger of the Air. That nickname seems fitting as it is an apex predator (a predator at the top of a food chain with no natural predators) of our night sky with a wingspan of nearly five feet.

Endowed with extraordinary hearing, they can track and catch a mouse under a foot of snow. That hearing is helped by their two unique ears: one above an eye and one below the other eye, and one that is four to six times larger than the other.

Great Horned Owls prefer fields, farms and openings in the forest. They can and will hunt anything up to their size and are one of the few predators of skunks as they – like most birds – almost completely lack a sense of smell. As Elkins put it, “To them, a skunk is just a cat with racing stripes.” They also will hunt birds, so owls may be mobbed or attacked by crows. Their call is a deep, soft hoot with a stuttering rhythm: “hoo-h’HOO-hoo-hoo,” the owl call most often used in movies and TV.

Our most common owl is the Barred Owl (pictured). Slightly smaller than the Great Horned, with a wingspan of about four feet, they prefer wet woods. They eat a lot of amphibians. They share habitat with the red-shouldered hawk, and both have enjoyed increasing numbers over the last 10 to 15 years, meaning that small creatures in this area have predators from above day and night.

The Barred Owl nests in tree cavities, and the young leave the nest surprisingly early. Or maybe that’s not surprising if you consider the accumulation of parasites and excrement in the nest, plus crowding from a sibling. They can climb up a tree, rather like a parrot, if their readiness for flight doesn’t align with their cavity departure. Their call is often described as “who cooks for you … who cooks for you-all.”

Our smallest resident owl, clocking in at about six inches, is the Eastern Screech Owl. These are becoming more scarce, in part due to their competition with Barred Owls. Also cavity nesters, often in abandoned woodpecker nests, they eat small mammals, and insects including caterpillars. They have two calls that sound like completely different creatures: one is a tremulous, descending whinny, and the other a rapid chuckling trill.

Others that might be heard (or more rarely seen) here are the Northern Saw-whet Owl, Long-eared Owl and Arboreal Owl. The latter is quite rare but was spotted in Sperry Preserve back in 1992.

It’s best to avoid prowling for owls during their nesting season in March. Disturbing them by getting close enough to observe or photograph them causes stress and can interfere with them hunting and raising their chicks. Please don’t be a bird paparazzi! Give them privacy during March so we all can enjoy and benefit from their presence.

You can contact this writer at jswspotlight@gmail.com; visit the Middlebury Land Trust on Facebook or the website at middleburylandtrust.org. Happy hiking!