Barred Owl (Strix varia)
Length: 17-20 inches Wingspan: 3 1/2-4 feet
Missouri status: Common year-round resident.
Behavior: Occasionally flies during daylight, especially when disturbed. Flight buoyant.
Habitat: Deep woods; especially big timber around rivers, lakes and swamps.
Foods: Mice, rats, frogs, snakes, crayfish, rabbits, chipmunks, small birds and insects.
Reproduction: Courtship and breeding takes place from February through March in Missouri. Two or three white, round eggs are laid in a tree cavity or occasionally in an abandoned hawk nest. Incubation: 28 days. Rearing: 42 days.
Sounds: Usual call is a series of eight accented hoots ending in oo-aw. It sounds much like, Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?"
Problems: The removal of large snags suitable for nesting, stream pollution, collisions with cars, and predation and competition by great horned owls.
Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca)
Length: 20-25 inches Wingspan: 4 1/2-5 feet
Missouri status: Visits Missouri during some winters and not others. Peak numbers in Missouri occur about every four years in response to lemming population crashes in far north. Only a small portion (usually immature individuals) of the population are forced south. Twenty to 40 individuals were reported in Missouri during the falls and winters of 1973, 1977 and 1981.
Behavior: Most active during day. Perches on the ground, fence posts or hay bales. Tame.
Habitat: Open grasslands in Missouri; tundra within its circumpolar nesting range.
Foods: Lemmings, rabbits, squirrels, mink, muskrats.
Voice: Silent south of the breeding ground.
Problems: Shooting and car collisions due to their tameness.
Eastern Screech Owl (Otus asio)
Length: 8-9 inches Wingspan: 20-22 inches
Missouri status: Uncommon year-round resident.
Behavior: Tame. Strictly a nighttime owl.
Colors: May be gray or rustred.
Habitat: Trees often cedars or pines in farm groves, city lots, orchards or deep woods.
Food: Mice, shrews, beetles, grasshoppers, moths, rats, moles, crayfish, fish and small birds.
Reproduction: Nesting begins from March through May in Missouri. Four or five white, roundish eggs are laid, usually in a tree cavity, occasionally in bird houses and rarely in buildings. Incubation: 26 days. Rearing: 28 days.
Voice: A quavering whistle that goes down the scale. Most often heard in spring and fall.
Problems: Removal of dead, hollow trees, pesticides and car collisions.
Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)
Length: 20-25 inches Wingspan: 4 1/2-5 feet (female largest)
Missouri status: Common year-round resident.
Behavior: Mostly nocturnal but occasionally hunts during day. Often perches at the tops of dead trees to scan for prey.
Habitat: Woodland, open country and suburbs.
Foods: Rats, rabbits, squirrels, skunks, mice, muskrats, opossums, gophers, large and small birds.
Reproduction: Courting occurs as early as November with nesting in January and February in Missouri. Usually lays two or three white, round eggs in unused nests of hawks, herons or crows, but occasionally selects a ledge on a bluff or a hollow tree. Incubation, by both parents: 30-35 days. Rearing: 63-70 days.
Voice: A muffled, resonant, sixnoted hoot. The great horned is sometimes called the "hoot owl."
Problems: Shooting, trapping and picking up young.
Common Barn-owl (Tyto alba)
Length: 14-17 inches Wingspan: 3 1/2-4 feet
Missouri status: Extremely rare yearround resident. An endangered species.
Behavior: Highly nocturnal. Spends day secluded in rafters, behind hay bales, etc.
Habitat: Open grass or croplands with scattered trees or buildings. Occasionally in towns or cities.
Foods: Mice, voles, moles, shrews, rats, starlings and sparrows.
Reproduction: Can begin nesting at any season, usually February through July in Missouri. Lays five to ten white, round eggs on ledges, in hay or grain in farm buildings or grain bins. Occasionally nests in hollow trees or holes in banks. Will readily accept a manmade box. Incubation: 32-34 days. Rearing: 52-56 days.
Voice: A chilling, hissing scream.
Problems: Pesticides, fall plowing which lessens prey availability, hard winters, a shortage of suitable nesting sites, nest robbing and other disturbances at nesting sites.
Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus)
Length: 7-8 inches Wingspan: 17-18 inches
Missouri status: Rare winter resident.
Behavior: The most nocturnal of our owls. On the rare occasions seen, it often is perched near the ground in dense cover or in the entrance of a tree cavity. Extremely tame.
Habitat: Hunts over open country at night. Finds seclusion during day in dense evergreens, among vines or in tree cavities.
Foods: Insects, shrews, bats and small birds.
Reproduction: Not known to nest in Missouri.
Voice: A soft, scraping whistle like the sound of a saw. Seldom heard in Missouri.
Long-eared Owl (Asio otus)
Length: 13-15 inches Wingspan: 3-3 1/2 feet
Missouri status: Rare winter resident. Casual summer resident.
Behavior: Strictly nocturnal. Highly secretive by day. Buoyant, mothlike flight. Usually several together, especially at roosts.
Habitat: Hunts over open country at night. Roosts in dense groves by day, especially pines.
Foods: Mice, rats, shrews, voles and small rabbits.
Reproduction: Nesting in Missouri is extremely unlikely, and there have been few reports within the past 20 years. Nesting commences in March and April. Four to six eggs are laid in an old crow, hawk or squirrel nest, usually in pines. Incubation: 28 days. Rearing: 34 days.
Voice: Doglike barks and hoots, although usually silent on the wintering ground in Missouri.
Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)
Length: 13-15 inches Wingspan: 3 1/2 feet
Missouri status: Uncommon winter resident.
Behavior: Perches on or near ground. Commonly active during day, especially in early morning and late afternoon, as well as night. Hunts while flying low over grasslands in mothlike flight. Often several together, especially at roosts.
Habitat: Open grasslands, especially native prairie. Roosts on ground or in low bushes.
Foods: Mice, rats, rabbits, gophers, lemmings, insects.
Reproduction: Nests on ground, and formerly thought to nest in Missouri.
Voice: Like barking of small dog, although usually silent on wintering ground in Missouri.
Problems: The ground nest site is easily disturbed by haying or grazing. May be the reason they no longer nest in Missouri.
