What a nice surprise to see and hear my first Barred owl this week!
Despite over 30 years of birding in our southeast Michigan area, an area where Barred owls are reported regularly in mature forests near water, I’ve never found one.
It’s likely I’ve walked past one in a forest, or heard one but didn’t recognize the call.
My thanks to fellow birder Frank—he found a Barred owl earlier in the week—who offered to meet me in the forested area where he both saw and heard it.
At dusk on one of our warmer spring nights (60 degrees Fahrenheit), we peered through diminishing light with our binoculars for movement in the forest.
Within five minutes, we thought we saw a dark blob land on an oak tree branch. Searching through large branches that obscured a good view, we finally found the Barred owl!
Not the best photo, given the lack of light, I was thrilled to able to see it. A couple minutes later, it started to hoot.
