Winter Owl Spotting

Can you identify this well-camouflaged owl?
Image by Kevinsphotos from Pixabay

Though most of us prefer to be out in nature in spring through autumn, winter is actually a great time for spotting and listening for owls. Bare trees make it easier to see at dawn and dusk when many owls are active.

New Jersey’s year-round owls include great horned, Eastern screech, barred and, less common, short-eared, long-eared, barn and saw-whet owls. 

In winter, you can also see snowy owls and short-eared, long-eared, and saw-whet owls from the north that migrate to our warmer climate in search of a steadier food supply. Barn owls usually migrate further south from New Jersey in winter, but there may be a few that stay.

Giselle Chazot Smisko, director of the Avian Wildlife Center in Wantage advises looking carefully in those bare branches at dawn and dusk as owls may nap in tree branches during daylight hours. Owls can camouflage themselves very well.

Of course, you can also listen for their distinctive calls. It is also possible to find signs of an owl's roosting place by finding chalky white droppings and grey owl pellets of indigestible bones and fur in the area below a tree. (They are not "owl poop" but rather regurgitated parts and they are frequently opened up in science lessons to show what the owl had eaten.)

If you want a guaranteed owl spotting (especially with children), visit the Raptor Trust or the Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge. Both have resident owls that have been injured and cannot survive in the wild. The Avian Wildlife Center, Raptor Trust, and Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge also provide public education programs at various locations using “ambassador” owls.

MORE

Cornell Ornithology Lab’s “All About Birds” website 

National Audubon Society’s guide to North American birds

New Jersey Conservation Foundation and njconservation.org/owl-spotting-in-winter/

Birds and Airports. Not Perfect Together.

United Airlines and Audubon International are teaming up to protect raptors “threatened” by living near Newark Airport. They want to send them to nearby golf courses.

The United Eco-Skies Raptor Relocation Program at Newark Liberty International Airport plans to protect hawks, ospreys and owls by transporting the animals to golf courses certified within the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program.

Since a 2009 accident when a jetliner was forced to land in the Hudson river after birds were sucked into its engine, many birds have been killed in the New York City area in an effort to make flight paths safer.

"The presence of wildlife at our airports can pose a challenge to pilots operating commercial aircraft," said Laura Francoeur, the Port Authority's chief wildlife biologist. "The agency implements wildlife management measures to reduce these challenges, and we continue to work with our airline partners and organizations such as United and Audubon International to ensure safe operations while protecting nature."

But, according to GooseWatchNYC.com, the leading causes of fatal plane crash accidents are not wildlife but pilot error (50%), mechanical error (22%) and weather (12%).

Jersey Owls

There are eighteen species of owls in North America and 8 of them can be found in the Garden State.

1. Barn Owl
2. Barred Owl 
3. Eastern Screech Owl
4. Northern Saw-whet Owl
5. Short-eared Owl 
6. Long-eared Owl
7. Great horned Owl
8. Snowy Owl

On New Jersey's endangered list is the Short-Eared Owl. The number of Short-eared Owls that overwinter in New Jersey varies from year to year. However, breeding Short-eared Owls are considered endangered. The species may no longer even nest in NJ, although at one time small numbers were known to do so.

They are considered to be a large owl, reaching a height of 16 inches /40 cm (Like other species of owls, the female is larger than the male).  They have small “ear” tufts (not actually ears) on a large, round head. Their underparts are heavily streaked and their face area has dark patches, with yellow eyes. 

You might see a Short-eared Owl in open habitats such as uncultivated fields, pastures, airports, and fresh and saltwater marshes. They are not a woodland species, but during the winter they will roost in trees.

On the state's threatened list are both the Long-Eared Owl and the Barred Owl.

Long-eared owl

The Long-eared owl is slender and about 12-15 inches.

It has distinctive long "ear" tufts similar to the Great Horned Owl but closer together. The facial disk is chestnut colored. The breast and belly are streaked and barred.

Long-eared Owls might be found in dense coniferous forests or mixed forests consisting of deciduous and evergreen trees. They roost communally with 2-20 birds living together. They hunt at night in nearby fields and meadows.

Like most owls, their preferred prey include voles and field mice, but bats, moles, rabbits and various species of birds are occasionally captured.

Barred Owl

The Barred Owl is located statewide but the greatest concentrations are in the northern and southern parts of New Jersey (Sussex, Passaic, Morris and Burlington, Cumberland, Atlantic and Cape May counties) where wetland habitat helps them survive. Conversely, development pressures in counties like Bergen, Essex, Union, Middlesex, Mercer, Hunterdon, Salem, Gloucester and Camden have reduced or eliminated the barred owl's habitat.

In addition to loss of habitat, barred owls can be killed by being hit by vehicles, electrocuted, poisoned. and by Great Horned Owls who prey on them and other owl species except for the Snowy Owl.

Fragmentation of forest habitat due to logging and rights-of-way for utilities has resulted in habitat that is more suitable for Great Horned Owls which puts predatory pressure on barred owls.

Its large size (20 inches tall - 25 cm), rounded head, lack of "ear" tufts, grayish-brown color with dark eyes and dark bars that run horizontal across its breast and vertically on its belly make Barred Owls easy to identify if you can find one. Females are similar in appearance but larger.

Barred Owls live in the deep forest and hide inside woodlands with a preference for coniferous or mixed coniferous and deciduous forests rather than strictly deciduous forests. Large tracts of woodlands are preferred to forests that have been highly fragmented. Within these dense stands of forest, proximity to water such as swamps, marshes, streams and lakes is preferred. At night they may be identified by their characteristic call of eight hoots that are in two groups of four: hoohoo-hoohoo followed by hoohoo-hoohoo-aw). This call has been analogized to sound like they are saying "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?"

The Barred Owl is a NON MIGRANT. Barred Owls (like Great Horned Owls and Eastern Screech Owls) remain in New Jersey throughout the year. They hunt in the evening and at night. Barred Owls are highly opportunistic and eat a large variety of prey. However, research studies show that Barred Owls rely heavily on voles, mice and shrews.

Saw-Whet

A Great Horned Owl's gaze

Great Horned Owl

Barn owl

a Snowy Owl at Cape May via https://twitter.com/gregroxphotos

Images: US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)

Snowy Owls Visit the Jersey Shore

It may be a bit cold for a lot of us to be on the beaches in New Jersey right now, but that doesn't mean others are not enjoying the uncrowded shore.

"Ran into this guy while walking the beach this afternoon," reports Ray Yeager - RTY Photography LLC. Snowy owls have been spotted along the shore over the past few weeks.    Read more.


The Raptor Trust, a non-profit bird rehabilitation facility based in Millington, describes the snowy owl, in this way:

When perched, the bird has a smooth, heavy appearance. Its head is rounded and lacks feather tufts. It has bright yellow eyes, a black beak, and thickly feathered legs and feet. The female is larger than the male, as in all owls, but the recognizable difference is that the adult male is almost pure white, while the female has dark, heavy flecking.

Winter Visitors Flock to South Jersey

Western Grebe - FWS

It is that time of year when the Jersey shore gets a lot of visitors flying in for a stay. they don't use Newark or Atlantic City airports. They fly in on their own because winter in South Jersey is when dozens of species of bird not native to this area take vacations from their northern homes.

While people in NJ may be complaining about snow and cold weather, these avian tourists find the shores and estuaries of the Delaware Bay coast very appealing. The Downe and Commercial townships, as well as Maurice River and Lawrence along the bay and river shores are considered prime area for birding. There are also a number of wildlife management areas (WMAs) and other protected open spaces that offer good viewing.

“The Delaware bay shore is one of the best wintering strongholds in North America,” Pete Dunne, director of the NJ Audubon Society’s Cape May Bird Observatory, told The South Jersey Times. “This is what is called an eruption year. Food stocks are scarce up north and so the birds come south."

Already, sightings of the winter finch, Townsend’s warbler and the rare western grebe have been made. There are also birds of prey including owls, hawks, falcons and eagles despite Hurricane Sandy drowning many of the mice, rats and weasels that are the prey of raptors in these marshes.

This year, the Audubon Society’s annual Cape May Christmas count documented 168 distinct species.

Northern Saw-Whet Owl  -  FWS

 Dunne reported ten distinct great horned owl calls one morning at Turkey Point in Downe Township.

And the saw-whet owls are present in large numbers. As many as 80 have been captured and banded in a given area in a single night.

The saw-whet owl is very passive and are present in areas of open marshland along the coast should have its share of prowling raptors.

For those interested in learning more about birds and bird watching, Dunne and the NJ Audubon will be hosting Break into Birding, an informational session for new birders on February 16 and 17. Information on all activities and programs offered by the Cape May Bird Observatory can be found online at www.BirdCapeMay.org

Images: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Public Domain)