Barred Owl

Barred Owl. This is the bird that is replacing the Spotted Owl in much of its territory in the Western forests. This bird is much less secretive and is more aggressive than the Spotted, and has several times shown up in our backyard, including last week. It is common on the East Coast where there are no Spotted Owls, but has only recently appeared on the West Coast. The reason for its range expansion is not clear. It looks almost exactly like the Spotted Owl except that the spots are replaced by little vertical bars on the front of the bird.

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