ON BARRED OWLS. .. 
     
    
   
   
    
     AFTER SEEING MY FIRST OWL 
     
    
   
   
    
     by Ann MacPhail, New Haven 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Owls, like herons and 
     
     pelicans, are an easily identi- 
     
     fiable family of birds, and with 
     
     few exceptions even the most 
     
     inexperienced ornithologist would 
     
     have to go to great length to 
     
     confuse the owl with any other 
     
     bird. The fluffy rounded head, 
     
     large forward looking eyes, 
     
     concentrated expression and sober 
     
     habit, give owls a distinctive 
     
     appearance all their own. But 
     
     telling one species of owl from 
     
     another is slightly more challeng- 
     
     ing to the inexperienced bird— 
     
     watcher, as I found out myself 
     
     this winter. 
     
    

    
     While cross-country skiing 
     
     along a woodland trail in New 
     
     Haven on New Year's Day my . 
     
     attention was attracted by a . 
     
     commotion to my left. Upon stop- 
     
     ping I could see six or seven 
     
     birds chattering and flying about 
     
     in the trees; then to my amaze- 
     
     ment my eyes were drawn to a 
     
     large white-brown looking bird 
     
     staring intently at me — an owl. 
     
    

    
     I had never seen an owl before 
     
    

    
     and hadn't even looked through the 
     
     section on owls in my field guide 
     
     book, Birds of NOrth America. I 
     
     desperately tried to remember as many details as possible — rounded 
     
     head, no ear tufts, creamy chest with vertical dark brown stripes, 
     
    

    
     dark brown back and about twenty inches in height - for accurate 
     
     identification later. 
     
    

    
     The species was quickly narrowed to either a barred owl or a great 
     
     gray owl as these are the only two large brown—grey earless owls 
     
     reported in this area. On consultation with a more experienced birder 
     
     and reading in The Birds of Nova Scotia that the great gray is so rare 
     
     that "one is not likely to be encountered in a lifetime", it seemed 
     
     fairly certain that the owl was a barred. 
     
    

    
     To the experienced birdwatcher the barred owl is easily identifiable, 
     
     by brown horizontal bars across the upper part of its chest and dark 
     
     brown—black eyes. From the literature it appears the barred owl (Strix 
     
     varia) is the New World counterpart of the Old World Ural owl (Strix 
     
     uralensis) and is closely related to the rare spotted owl (Strix . 
     
     occidentalis) found only west of the Canadian Rockies. 
     
    
   
   
    
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