Barred Owl

Mottled brown and white with dark brown, nearly black eyes, Barred Owls inhabit the woodlands, wooded river bottoms, and swamps of the south, as well as the mature coniferous trees of the northwest. Active at dawn and dusk, these birds of prey hunt for small mammals and their distinctive baritone hooting is a familiar sound in southern wetlands, where members of a pair usually call to each other in response. Evidence of their existence dates back at least 11,000 years, with Pleistocene fossils discovered in Florida, Tennessee, and Ontario.