Owls of Ohio - Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Introductionowls of ohioO W L S O F O H I OOwls have long evoked curiosity inpeople, due to their secretive and oftennocturnal habits, fierce predatorybehavior, and interesting appearance.Many people might be surprised byhow common owls are; it just takes abit of knowledge and searching to findthem. The effort is worthwhile, asowls are among our most fascinatingbirds, both to watch and to hear. Owlsare also among our most charismaticbirds, and reading about species withnames like fearful owl, barking owl,and powerful owl makes many a birderwant to visit the distant lands in whichthese species occur.Closer to home, examples aboundof the popularity of owls. An easilyobserved nest of great horned owlsalong busy Cleveland Avenue inColumbus, Ohio was visited by wellover 1,000 people while it was active,and featured in local newspapers.In the winter of 2002, a snowy owlfrequented an area near Wilmingtonin Clinton County, and became quitea celebrity. She was visited by scores ofpeople – many whom had never seenone of these Arctic visitors – and wasfeatured in many newspapers and TVnews shows. A massive invasion ofnorthern owls – boreal, great gray, andNorthern hawk owl – into Minnesotaduring the winter of 2004-05 becamea major source of ecotourism for theNorth Star State. Thousands of birderstraveled from all over North Americaand beyond to witness this spectacle.Ohio is a great state for owls. Todate, 12 species have been recorded;more than any adjacent state otherthan Michigan, which also has tallied12 species. To put that number intocontext, there are only 19 regularlyoccurring species of owls in NorthAmerica (two others, the mottled owl,and stygian owl are known from oneand two Texas records, respectively.Another, the Oriental scops-owl, isknown from two Alaska records). Ona global scale, there are 27 genera ofowls in two families, comprising a totalof 215 species.In Ohio and abroad, there is greatvariation among owls. The largestspecies in the world is the great grayowl of North America. It is nearly threefeet long with a wingspan of almost 4½ feet, although the smaller greathorned owl outweighs it by 15% onaverage. The smallest is the elf owl ofCentral America and the southwesternU.S. Less than six inches long and witha wingspan of about one foot, elf owlsare smaller than the familiar Northerncardinal. It would take 35 elf owls toequal the weight of one great hornedowl.