Spotted Owl or "Sparred" hybrid, McDonald Forest

[Lisa Millbank]

While I was on a 15-mile walk from our house in Corvallis to parts of McDonald Forest, I stopped to rest and saw a large bird fly into a tree out of view.  I heard some Steller's Jays making a bit of a fuss, and then I heard a few quiet, rising, nasal whining calls.  I thought it was possibly a juvenile Great Horned Owl giving a very soft begging call.  I went to investigate and discovered that it was a Spotted Owl's contact call, or maybe a Spotted x Barred hybrid.

I've attached some pictures, and if anyone can help me determine whether it is a Spotted Owl or a hybrid, I'd really appreciate it. This paper (https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v111n02/p0487-p0492.pdf) had some useful descriptions, but the scanned photos are pretty bad.  The owl I saw today has more barring than spotting on the head, a more yellow bill (vs. greenish-yellow), and perhaps bolder facial disc markings than Spotted Owls are supposed to have.  Otherwise it looks very much like a Spotted Owl.

It was banded; the left leg band is metal and has "33" embossed on it (may not be the full number), and the right band looks like yellow plastic that may have dark markings.

Posting specific locations for Spotted Owls is discouraged, so I'll just say the location was McDonald Forest, and it was not in the type of habitat we associate with breeding Spotted Owls. 

There are numerous publicly searchable eBird records of Spotted Owls in McDonald Forest, west of Corvallis, and the nearby Coast Range.  It's interesting that there's only one local Spotted x Barred hybrid record, which was submitted by Hendrik Herlyn and Oscar Harper last November.  I don't know about the owl I saw today, but I'd guess that hybrids are probably becoming more and more common, even if they are not always reported as such.

Lisa Millbank

[Lisa Millbank]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jordan Hazen <jordan....@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 23, 2016 at 8:32 PM
Subject: [birding] Re: Spotted Owl or "Sparred" hybrid, McDonald Forest
To: bir...@midvalleybirding.org


I am part of a crew that conducts spotted owl surveys in McDonald and Dunn
Forests. I started doing surveys in 2014. Last summer a crew member got a
response from a Sparred Owl. This year I have gotten responses from it
twice. All the responses have been in the same area, so I have a good idea
where you were. I have yet to see the owl so the pictures were nice to see.
Both times I've gotten responses from it this year it was with a female
Barred Owl. I believe that this is a male hybrid that is paired with the
Barred Owl. In 3 years of owl work I have encountered at least 2 other
hybrids, and have heard of at least 2 others besides those. They all have
had slightly different vocalizations ranging from almost identical to a
Barred Owl to almost identical to a Spotted Owl, and variations inbetween.
This one had calls that are somewhere in the middle. I am positive that the
owl in the pictures is a hybrid and shows a nice melding of characteristics
of both species. He's quite beautiful! Thank you for sharing the pictures.
I hope on my next survey he'll come see me. His mate came in last time, but
he stayed back out of sight.

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[Lisa Millbank]

Thanks for your reply, Jordan!  It's interesting to know a little more about this particular owl's life, and the potentially confusing variations in the calls of these hybrids.

I also got a reply from Chris McCafferty, who works on a Spotted Owl demography study in the Coast Range.  He agrees that this individual is a hybrid.  One thing I learned from him is that hybrids aren't common over the whole range, but there was a Spotted x Barred pair locally who produced some young in recent years.  I think I remember hearing about this.  For us local birders on these email lists, I suppose that means that a "Spotted Owl" heard near Corvallis could possibly be one of these hybrids.

Lisa Millbank