Barred Owl - Cookie
Barred Owls are large owls with round heads (no ear tufts) and medium length rounded tails. They are known for their lovely dark eyes, giving them a mysterious look and their satellite disc-shaped feather structures on their faces which helps them perceive sound even more amazingly. This owl gets its name from the brown bars which cross both vertically and horizontally on its body. Barred Owls live in large, mature forests made up of both deciduous trees and evergreens, often near water. Most Barred Owls remain in a single area their whole lives, but on rare occasions they may wander farther in search of food during winters when prey is scarce. They are native to the entirety of the eastern United States and can be recognized by their distinct “who cooks for you all” call. Pairs can occasionally be heard caterwauling.
Barred Owls eat many kinds of small animals, including squirrels, chipmunks, mice, voles, rabbits, birds (up to the size of grouse), amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates. They may perch over water and drop down to catch fish, or even wade in shallow water in pursuit of aquatic dwellers. Though they do most of their hunting right after sunset and during the night, sometimes they feed during the day. Barred Owls may temporarily store their prey in a nest, in the crook of a branch, or at the top of a snag.
Barred Owls usually nest in a natural cavity, 20–40 feet high in a large tree. They may also use stick platform nests built by other animals (including hawks, crows, ravens, and squirrels), as well as human-made nest boxes. Barred Owls may prospect a nest site as early as a year before using it. They may add lichen, fresh green conifer sprigs, or feathers to a stick platform nest, and they may flatten or remove the top of an old squirrel nest. Courtship involves both male and female bobbing and bowing heads, raising wings, and calling while perched close together. Males may feed females in courtship.
Cookie is Sarett Nature Center’s resident Barred Owl. She was donated to us in December 2016 by a wildlife rehabilitator who had healed the bird and deemed her unfit for life in the wild due to soft tissue damage in the left shoulder after a window collision. Cookie is able to fly, but if she was living in the wild flying much more her damaged muscles would eventually wear out leaving her unable to fly. Sarett Nature Center has permits issued by the DNR to allow for possession of these animals for educational purposes. Barred Owls can live up to 20 years in captivity. Cookie is a very smart cookie indeed and regularly challenges our raptor trainers forcing them to improvise and reconsider their methods. She has come a long way since beginning her retraining using positive reinforcement in January 2022. We have plans to move her to an outdoor public display enclosure in the coming year, and your donation is very much appreciated in our journey towards this goal.
