Northern Spotted Owl
Encyclopedia
The Northern Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis caurina, is one of three Spotted Owl
subspecies. A Western North America
n bird in the family Strigidae, genus Strix
, it is a medium-sized dark brown owl sixteen to nineteen inches in length and one to one and one sixth pounds. Females are larger than males. The wingspan is approximately forty two inches.
to Marin County in northern California
. It nests in cavities or on platforms in large trees and will use abandoned nests of other species. Spotted owls mate for life and remain in the same geographical areas year after year.
Most Spotted Owls occur on US federal lands (Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service lands), although significant numbers occur on state lands in all three states, and on private and tribal properties.
s, although it will also eat other small mammals, reptiles, birds and insects. They will often swallow their catch whole and regurgitate pellets of indigestible hair, feathers and bones. Males and females both hunt, except during nesting, when males do most of the hunting. They can take prey on the ground and in flight.
. This technique allows them to glide silently down upon their prey.
34 to 36 days. The hunting and feeding is done by the male during this time. The young owls remain with the parents until late summer to early fall. They leave the nest and form their own winter feeding range. By spring, the young owls' territory will be from two to 24 miles from the parents.
The worldwide IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species status for the Spotted Owl species is Near Threatened
with a decreasing population trend. As the IUCN Red List does not track subspecies that status applied to species across its whole range in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
The Canadian population, declared endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada
under the 2002 Species at Risk Act
, now numbers less than 100 breeding pairs of birds. In British Columbia, Canada, only six pairs are known in the wild, down from historic numbers of 500 pairs.
The Northern Spotted Owl was listed as a threatened species
under the Endangered Species Act
throughout its range of northern California, Oregon and Washington by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
on June 23, 1990 citing loss of old-growth habitat as the primary threat. The USFWS previously reviewed the status of the Northern Spotted Owl in 1982, 1987 and 1989 but found it did not warrant listing as either threatened or endangered. Logging in national forest
s containing the Northern Spotted Owl was stopped by court order in 1991.
by environmental scientists published in a sociology journal argued that logging jobs had been in a long decline and that environmental protection was not a significant factor in job loss.
From 1947 to 1964, the number of logging jobs declined 90%. Starting with the Wilderness Act
of 1964, environmental protection saved 51,000 jobs in the Pacific Northwest.
The controversy pitted individual loggers and small sawmill owners against environmentalists. Bumper stickers reading Kill a Spotted Owl—Save a Logger and I Like Spotted Owls—Fried appeared to support the loggers. Plastic spotted owls were hung in effigy in Oregon sawmills. The logging industry, in response to continued bad publicity, started the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. While timber interests and conservatives have cited the Northern Spotted Owl as an example of excessive or misguided environmental protection, many environmentalists view the owl as an "indicator species," or "canary in a coal mine" whose preservation has created protection for an entire threatened ecosystem.
Protection of the owl, under both the Endangered Species Act and the National Forest Management Act, has led to significant changes in forest practices in the northwest. President Clinton's controversial Northwest Forest Plan
of 1994 was designed primarily to protect owls and other species dependent on old-growth forests while ensuring a certain amount of timber harvest. Although the result was much less logging, industry automation and the new law meant the loss of thousands of jobs. However, new jobs were created for biologists conducting surveys for spotted owls and other rare organisms that occur in their range.
The debate has cooled somewhat over the years, with little response from environmentalists as the owl's population continues to decline by 3.7 percent per year. Under the Bush administration, in 2004 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reaffirmed that the owl remained threatened, but indicated that the causes of endangerment had changed, mostly as a result of invasion by barred owl
s into the range and habitat of the spotted owl.
In 2007, the USFWS proposed new recovery plans intended to guide for all management actions on lands where spotted owls occur, and to aid in recovery of the species. Early proposals were criticized by environmental groups as significantly weakening existing protections for the species. The Obama administration reversed proposals that would have increased logging on Bureau of Land Management administered lands. Recent discussion has been focused on two controversial approaches. One of these, would emphasize wildfire management as key to owl persistence on the east side of the Cascades, and in the Klamath province. Another proposal, on control of barred owl
populations through culling has been criticized by many animal rights and other activists
Federal biologists were considering in 2010 whether to kill Barred Owls to see if that would help the Spotted Owls.
Spotted Owl
The Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, is a species of true owl. It is a resident species of forests in western North America, where it nests in tree holes, old bird of prey nests, or rock crevices. Nests can be between 13 and 66 yards high and usually contain two eggs...
subspecies. A Western North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n bird in the family Strigidae, genus Strix
Strix (genus)
Strix is a genus of owls. They belong to the typical owl family Strigidae, one of the two generally accepted living families of owls, with the other being the barn-owls . Common names are earless owls or wood owls though they are not the only owls without ear tufts, and "wood owl" is also used as a...
, it is a medium-sized dark brown owl sixteen to nineteen inches in length and one to one and one sixth pounds. Females are larger than males. The wingspan is approximately forty two inches.
Habitat
The Northern Spotted Owl primarily inhabits old growth forests in the northern part of its range (Canada to southern Oregon) and landscapes with a mix of old and younger forest types in the southern part of its range (Klamath region and California) . The species' range is the Pacific coast from extreme southern British ColumbiaBritish Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
to Marin County in northern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. It nests in cavities or on platforms in large trees and will use abandoned nests of other species. Spotted owls mate for life and remain in the same geographical areas year after year.
Most Spotted Owls occur on US federal lands (Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service lands), although significant numbers occur on state lands in all three states, and on private and tribal properties.
Diet
The Northern Spotted Owl is primarily nocturnal. Its diet consists mainly of wood rats (Neotoma sp.) and flying squirrelFlying squirrel
Flying squirrels, scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini, are a tribe of 44 species of squirrels .- Description :...
s, although it will also eat other small mammals, reptiles, birds and insects. They will often swallow their catch whole and regurgitate pellets of indigestible hair, feathers and bones. Males and females both hunt, except during nesting, when males do most of the hunting. They can take prey on the ground and in flight.
Behavior
The Northern Spotted Owl is very protective of their territory and intolerant of habitat disturbance. Each nesting pair needs a large amount of land for hunting and nesting, and will not migrate unless they experience drastic seasonal changes, such as heavy snows, which make hunting difficult. Their flight pattern is distinct, involving a series of rapid wingbeats interspersed with gliding flightGliding (flight)
Gliding flight is heavier-than-air flight without the use of thrust. It is employed by gliding animals and by aircraft such as gliders. The most common human application of gliding flight is in sport and recreation using aircraft designed for this purpose...
. This technique allows them to glide silently down upon their prey.
Reproduction
Northern Spotted Owls are ready to reproduce at two years of age, but do not typically breed until they are three years old. Male and females mate in February or March and the female lays two or three eggs in March or April. She then incubates the eggs for 30 days. After hatching, the young owls stay with the female 8 to 10 days and fledge in34 to 36 days. The hunting and feeding is done by the male during this time. The young owls remain with the parents until late summer to early fall. They leave the nest and form their own winter feeding range. By spring, the young owls' territory will be from two to 24 miles from the parents.
Conservation status
There are approximately three to five thousand pairs remaining in the wild, mostly in the states of Washington, Oregon and California.The worldwide IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
of Threatened Species status for the Spotted Owl species is Near Threatened
Near Threatened
Near Threatened is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status...
with a decreasing population trend. As the IUCN Red List does not track subspecies that status applied to species across its whole range in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
The Canadian population, declared endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada
Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada ; French: Le Comité sur la situation des espèces en péril au Canada, is an independent committee of wildlife experts and scientists whose "raison d’être is to identify species at risk" in Canada...
under the 2002 Species at Risk Act
Species at Risk Act
The Species at Risk Act is a piece of Canadian federal legislation which became law in Canada on December 12, 2002. It is designed to meet one of Canada's key commitments under the International Convention on Biological Diversity. The goal of the Act is to protect endangered or threatened...
, now numbers less than 100 breeding pairs of birds. In British Columbia, Canada, only six pairs are known in the wild, down from historic numbers of 500 pairs.
The Northern Spotted Owl was listed as a threatened species
Threatened species
Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...
under the Endangered Species Act
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
throughout its range of northern California, Oregon and Washington by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...
on June 23, 1990 citing loss of old-growth habitat as the primary threat. The USFWS previously reviewed the status of the Northern Spotted Owl in 1982, 1987 and 1989 but found it did not warrant listing as either threatened or endangered. Logging in national forest
United States National Forest
National Forest is a classification of federal lands in the United States.National Forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned by the federal government and managed by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. Land management of these areas...
s containing the Northern Spotted Owl was stopped by court order in 1991.
Controversy
The logging industry estimated up to 30,000 of 168,000 jobs would be lost because of the owl's status, which agreed closely with a Forest Service estimate. Harvests of timber in the Pacific Northwest were reduced by 80%, decreasing the supply of lumber and increasing prices. The decline in jobs was already in progress because of dwindling old-growth forest harvests and automation of the lumber industry. Subsequent research at the University of Wisconsin–MadisonUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
by environmental scientists published in a sociology journal argued that logging jobs had been in a long decline and that environmental protection was not a significant factor in job loss.
From 1947 to 1964, the number of logging jobs declined 90%. Starting with the Wilderness Act
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act of 1964 was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected some 9 million acres of federal land. The result of a long effort to protect federal wilderness, the Wilderness Act was signed...
of 1964, environmental protection saved 51,000 jobs in the Pacific Northwest.
The controversy pitted individual loggers and small sawmill owners against environmentalists. Bumper stickers reading Kill a Spotted Owl—Save a Logger and I Like Spotted Owls—Fried appeared to support the loggers. Plastic spotted owls were hung in effigy in Oregon sawmills. The logging industry, in response to continued bad publicity, started the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. While timber interests and conservatives have cited the Northern Spotted Owl as an example of excessive or misguided environmental protection, many environmentalists view the owl as an "indicator species," or "canary in a coal mine" whose preservation has created protection for an entire threatened ecosystem.
Protection of the owl, under both the Endangered Species Act and the National Forest Management Act, has led to significant changes in forest practices in the northwest. President Clinton's controversial Northwest Forest Plan
Northwest Forest Plan
The Northwest Forest Plan is a series of federal policies and guidelines governing land use on federal lands in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It covers areas ranging from Northern California to western Washington...
of 1994 was designed primarily to protect owls and other species dependent on old-growth forests while ensuring a certain amount of timber harvest. Although the result was much less logging, industry automation and the new law meant the loss of thousands of jobs. However, new jobs were created for biologists conducting surveys for spotted owls and other rare organisms that occur in their range.
The debate has cooled somewhat over the years, with little response from environmentalists as the owl's population continues to decline by 3.7 percent per year. Under the Bush administration, in 2004 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reaffirmed that the owl remained threatened, but indicated that the causes of endangerment had changed, mostly as a result of invasion by barred owl
Barred Owl
The Barred Owl is a large typical owl. It goes by many other names, including eight hooter, rain owl, wood owl, and striped owl, but is probably best known as the hoot owl.-Description:...
s into the range and habitat of the spotted owl.
In 2007, the USFWS proposed new recovery plans intended to guide for all management actions on lands where spotted owls occur, and to aid in recovery of the species. Early proposals were criticized by environmental groups as significantly weakening existing protections for the species. The Obama administration reversed proposals that would have increased logging on Bureau of Land Management administered lands. Recent discussion has been focused on two controversial approaches. One of these, would emphasize wildfire management as key to owl persistence on the east side of the Cascades, and in the Klamath province. Another proposal, on control of barred owl
Barred Owl
The Barred Owl is a large typical owl. It goes by many other names, including eight hooter, rain owl, wood owl, and striped owl, but is probably best known as the hoot owl.-Description:...
populations through culling has been criticized by many animal rights and other activists
Federal biologists were considering in 2010 whether to kill Barred Owls to see if that would help the Spotted Owls.