Barred Owl
“Though sightings were sparse, I heard several Brown Creepers and a Barred Owl called out a single, signature “Who cooks for you,?” likely a young male staking its territory.”
Through the year
Columns that mention it, by the month they were published.
Year by year
Columns that mention it each year.
In his words
Ten of the 39 passages, oldest first.
Barred owls have been seen and heard in Robinson Woods.
In the early morning hours of September 30 my mother-in-law Judy Calise spotted a Barred owl along Two Lights Road boarding the backside of Two Lights State Park.
Notable mentioning’s over the first two weeks of October include a close encounter between a Pileated Woodpecker and a Belted Kingfisher within “Robinson Woods III”, a Barred Owl calling before dusk almost every night in Robinson Woods I, a slight uptick in Red-breasted Nuthatches and Blackpoll Warblers high and low.
On the night of November 3rd, a first year Barred Owl came into a large Oak tree right above our house.
Witnessing this predator-prey relationship firsthand, on the evening of January 1 a young Barred owl was perched on a crab apple tree branch not but a couple feet from our kitchen window.
On the evening of February 5, the Barred owl I have been seeing with some frequency was sitting in a maple tree quite close to the house.
To make matters more exciting, just as we started to move along I looked up and a Barred owl was sitting 50 feet up in an old Eastern white pine watching the three of us while we quietly listened to the Great Horned.
On March 19 around dusk a Barred owl was hunting the fringe, where forest meets field along Shore Road.
On the evening of April 24 I heard a Barred owl calling along the Canter Lane Trail easement.
On July 26 around sundown I came across a Barred Owl hunting from the phone lines along Old Ocean House Road.
Show all 39 passages
Somewhere between dusk and dark on August 27 I heard separate Barred owls calling and/or caterwauling within Robinson II, Maxwell and Stonegate woods.
On the last day of February while exploring the magnificent new CELT property Pollock Brook reserve, my wife, son and I came across a few large owl pellets from either a Great-horned Owl or a Barred Owl.
Late in the afternoon on March 15 while wandering in Robinson Woods I, a Barred owl was heard.
Earlier that same day my wife and son heard a Barred owl calling (and responding to call backs) in Gull Crest.
Also, in the general area, a continuing Barred owl called out during the daylight hours from its swampy woodland hideout.
Four almost adult size fledgling Barred Owls!
On August 27 I heard separate Barred owls calling and/or caterwauling in oak trees above our house, and within Robinson II, Maxwell and Stonegate woods.
I saw and heard two Great-horned owls beginning their courtship rituals while a Barred Owl caterwauled somewhere nearby in the dark woods.
Later this same evening I heard two rather brief cackles from a Barred Owl deep in Robinson Woods.
Additionally, while I was spying on the two Hooded Mergansers a Barred Owl called twice loudly from the woods across the pond.
On April 19 I heard a Barred Owl vocalizing in mid-day in Winnick Woods and later that evening a pair of Barreds Caterwauling in Robinson Woods III.
Other noteworthy mentionings include: on June 5 in Robinson Woods II – a raspy cry from a fledgling Barred Owl accompanied by the mechanical rattle of a Belted Kingfisher and three different singing thrushes, Hermit, Wood and Veery.
Additionally, on June 18 I found three Barred Owl fledglings hissing on a snag high above the vernal pool within the Canter Lane easement portion of Robinson Woods I. Shortly thereafter I heard one Great horned Owl fledgling begging from the depths of Cranbrook.
As for owl encounters, on the evening of July 29 a young Barred Owl flew behind me as I turned to step down a ladder I had set up on the side of the house for painting.
A few other notes for late fall include: a young male Barred Owl continues to call during the day in Robinson Woods I. Also…
Later in the afternoon (5:07 p.m.) the full eight notes from a Barred Owl call was heard coming from somewhere within Robinson Woods III.
Later that same evening a Barred Owl call from the fringes of my property spooked three Wild Turkeys roosting high up in the thick limbs of an Oak Tree.
Additionally, on November 7 the waxing gibbous moon, clear skies and very little wind made for the right conditions to hear both a Great Horned Owl (behind town green and a local Barred Owl (fringes of Robinson woods) calling at the same time.
The following afternoon, March 19 within the Robinson Woods II, a Barred Owl called out from its shadowy perch as a Great-blue Heron flew overhead.
Later that same evening I heard a Barred Owl calling from the upper portion of the Pond Cove Brook Corridor and not all that far from where I had seen the Great Horned earlier.
Also, on the late afternoon of September 29 my two-year-old son was pleasantly surprised to hear the daytime call of our local resident Barred Owl from somewhere within Robinson Woods I.
And on February 11 around 10 p.m. I heard a Great-horned Owl calling from somewhere behind Town Hall while a Barred Owl hooted simultaneously deep within Robinson Woods.
In both occurrences it was not quite dark out when I heard the saw-whet’s whistles and that made me wonder whether this tiny owl was purposely trying to stay under the radar of surrounding Great-horned and Barred Owls by calling earlier rather than later.
A few other mentionables from the yard and field over the last several weeks include – On the evening of August 1 I was beckoned to the dark fringes of my property to listen to the rasping, hissing noises coming from three almost adult sized Barred Owls.
Other mentionables from the yard and field during the first week of September include, at dusk on September 4 I was crossing a bridge in Robinson Woods II when a Barred Owl swooped right overhead and disappeared into the shadowy forest ahead.
During the night I was awakened by the reverberant hooting of a Barred Owl, and in the early morning hours we listened to male and female Great-horned Owls dueting for 45 minutes as the twitterings of many White-throated Sparrows surrounded our tent.
Additionally on the evening of April 27 and within less than a minute of each other, I heard both a Barred Owl and a Great-horned Owl calling from their haunts along Shore Road.
Later that evening, a Barred Owl called from the upper Pond Cove Brook Corridor—not far from where the Great Horned had flown.
Though sightings were sparse, I heard several Brown Creepers and a Barred Owl called out a single, signature “Who cooks for you,?” likely a young male staking its territory.