• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Environment
  • History
  • Nature
  • Politics
  • Wit
  • About

Learn 100 Valley Birds #3: Common Valley Owls

August 7, 2022 By Jim Gain 4 Comments

Great Horned Owl by Jim Gain
Great Horned Owl by Jim Gain

Today’s post is another three-fer offering that includes the three owls that most Valley Visitors are likely to encounter in an urban setting: Great Horned Owl, Barn Owl and Western Screech-Owl. There are other possible owl species that one might come across in the grasslands and foothill woodlands away from town. One of those, the Burrowing Owl, will have its own future post and the others are considerably less likely to be seen.

GREAT HORNED OWL

Introduction: The Great Horned Owl is a Common Year-Round Resident in the valley. A large, powerful, nocturnal predator, it is equally at home in any valley habitat taking a wide variety of prey.

Appearance: The Great Horned Owl is characterized by its ear tufts, white throat, and barred brown, tan and white body. Their hooting can be heard throughout the year mostly at night, but in the breeding season, may continue through the morning.

Distribution: A nighttime expedition to the riparian woodlands of any of the parks along the creeks and rivers that run through the Central Valley will likely result in an encounter with this nocturnal hunter. Careful springtime explorers may encounter a Great Horned Owl’s nest with the curious owlets peering out.

BARN OWL

Barn Owl by Jim Gain
Barn Owl by Jim Gain

Introduction : The Barn Owl (Tyto Alba) is a Common Year-Round Resident in the valley and is a bit smaller than the Great Horned Owl. It is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most cosmopolitan (widespread) of all species of birds.

Appearance: Lanky, with a whitish face, chest, and belly, and buffy upperparts, this owl roosts in hidden, quiet places during the day.

Distribution: By night, they hunt on buoyant wingbeats in open fields and meadows. You can find them by listening for their eerie, raspy calls, quite unlike the hoots of other owls. Due to the large number of rodents that they eat, farmers welcome the Barn Owl and often install nest boxes on their properties.

Common Valley Owls by Jim Gain

Great Horned Owl by Jim Gain
Great Horned Owl by Jim Gain
Screech Owl two Gain
Barn Owl by Jim Gain
Great Horned Owl by Jim Gain Great Horned Owl by Jim Gain Screech Owl two Gain Barn Owl by Jim Gain

Cool Fact: The Barn Owl has excellent low-light vision and can easily find prey at night by sight. But its ability to locate prey by sound alone is the best of any animal that has ever been tested. It can catch mice in complete darkness in the lab, or hidden by vegetation or snow out in the real world.

WESTERN SCREECH-OWL

 

Screech Owl by Jim Gain
Screech Owl by Jim Gain

Introduction: The Western Screech-Owl (Megascops kennicottii) is a small owl native to North and Central America and is a Fairly Common Year-Round Resident in the Central Valley. It may be encountered in urban parks with mature trees or in riparian woodlands.

Western Screech-Owls nest in the cavities of large trees and typically lay three to five eggs in late March.

Appearance: The Western Screech-Owl is a pint-sized, cryptically patterned, gray owl with fine streaks of black and white and short ear tufts.

Distribution: Found in a variety of wooded habitats but favors riparian and deciduous areas. Can be found in urban areas and parks. Feeds mostly on small mammals, birds, and insects. Nests in cavities. Listen for its voice at night: a series of short, whistled notes that accelerates at the end.

Jim Gain has graciously permitted us to publish his “Learn 100 Valley Birds” series. See more of Jim’s spectacular images and instructive writing here. ed

Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: Jim Gain nature photography, Learn 100 Valley Birds

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. julie says

    August 8, 2022 at 10:19 am

    Thanks for this wonderful article, and photos!!

    Reply
  2. JO says

    August 8, 2022 at 12:24 pm

    Thanks for sharing. Jim Gain, we are so grateful for the many pictures and information about birds in our area and beyond.
    Eric, this is a great opportunity to encourage people to stop and smell the roses, or look and listen for the birdlife that sourrounds us. Valley Citizen articles are much appreciated. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Eric Caine says

      August 8, 2022 at 5:02 pm

      Thank you JO. We are both enthralled by Jim Gain’s great work. I’m very honored to be able to post it here. Bravo to Jim Gain!

      Reply
  3. Richard Anderson says

    August 11, 2022 at 10:51 am

    Jim:
    These impressive photos and your text add so much to Eric’s already impressive contributions to readers’ awareness of our local fauna (including H. sapiens)
    Thank you very much, and I will buy your book that I sure hope you are planning!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: Some comments may be held for moderation.

Primary Sidebar

Off The Wire

Gimme Shelter: Mayor Karen Bass on homelessness and the California housing crisis
Gimme Shelter: Mayor Karen Bass on homelessness and the California housing crisis
Liam Dillon and Ben Oreskes of the L.A. Times interview Mayor Karen Bass about homelessness and housing problems in California.
calmatters.org
Judge Luttig Has a Warning for America
Judge Luttig Has a Warning for America
Our democracy is “under vicious, unsustainable, and unendurable attack” from within…
morningshots.thebulwark.com
Rupert Murdoch has fuelled polarisation of society, Barack Obama says
Rupert Murdoch has fuelled polarisation of society, Barack Obama says
Former US president tells Sydney audience that media coverage has helped exacerbate divisions and that we no longer have a “shared story”
www.theguardian.com
California faces catastrophic flood dangers ? and a need to invest billions in protection
California faces catastrophic flood dangers and a need to invest billions in protection
A new state plan for the Central Valley calls for spending as much as $30 billion over 30 years to prepare for the dangers.
www.latimes.com
Oakland will get millions for the ?inhumane? crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it?s not enough
Oakland will get millions for the “inhumane” crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it’s not enough
Gavin Newsom’s administration has awarded Oakland a $4.7 million grant to come up with…
www.sfchronicle.com
Alaska?s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Mary Peltola won her election by campaigning on a platform to save the state’s prized fisheries. A powerful fishing lobby is standing in her way.
www.politico.com
Jimmy Carter's final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
Jimmy Carter’s final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
One of former President Carter’s biggest hopes is wiping out an infectious parasitic disease that’s plagued humans for millennia. How close is he?
www.latimes.com
Climate Extremes Threaten California?s Central Valley Songbirds - Eos
Climate Extremes Threaten California’s Central Valley Songbirds – Eos
A “nestbox highway” in California’s Central Valley is guiding songbirds to safe nesting sites and giving scientists a peek at fledgling success in a changing climate.
eos.org
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Republican David Eastman suggested the death of child abuse victims could be a “cost savings” to wider society.
www.newsweek.com
Editorial: Newsom's drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Editorial: Newsom’s drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Gov. Gavin Newsom has effectively ended environmental regulations protecting California rivers and migratory fish by extending drought-year waivers.
www.latimes.com
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
As of Thursday, just two of the more than 70 residents of McPherson Square had been placed in permanent D.C. housing.
www.washingtonpost.com
More Building Won?t Make Housing Affordable
More Building Won’t Make Housing Affordable
America’s housing crisis has reached unfathomable proportions. But new construction isn’t enough to solve it.
newrepublic.com

Find us on Facebook

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Footer

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Subscribe for Free

* indicates required

Search

• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 The Valley Citizen

Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Editor and publisher: Eric Caine

Website customization and maintenance by Susan Henley Design