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The Northern Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis caurina, is one of three Spotted Owl subspecies. A Western North American 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. Northern Spotted Owls are dark brown with round or oval white spots on the head, neck, back and have a whitish underbody with brown bars along the abdomen and chest. Their flight feathers are dark brown in color and have light brown or white bars. They have dark eyes contrary to most owls which have light eyes. The facial disk has white feathers around the eyes running down each side of the beak. They can survive in the wild for ten years and up to fifteen to twenty in captivity. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (750x1123, 166 KB) Fish and Wildlife resources[1] File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Northern Spotted Owl ...
The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. ...
Image File history File links Status_iucn3. ...
Near Threatened (NT) is an conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa which may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status. ...
For other uses, see Scientific classification (disambiguation). ...
For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ...
Typical Classes See below Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. ...
For other uses, see Bird (disambiguation). ...
For uses of the word Owl as a three letter acronym, see OWL. Families Strigidae Tytonidae An owl is any of some 200+ species of solitary nocturnal birds of prey in the order Strigiformes. ...
Genera Aegolius: saw-whet owls Asio: eared owls Athene Bubo: horned owls Ciccaba Glaucidium: pygmy owls Jubula Ketupa Lophostrix Micrathene: elf owls Mimizuku Nesasio Ninox Otus: scops owls Pseudoscops Pulsatrix Pyrroglaux: palau owls Sceloglaux Scotopelia Speotyto Strix: earless owls Surnia: hawk owls Uroglaux Xenoglaux Typical owls (family Strigidae) are one...
Species 15, see text. ...
Trinomial nomenclature is a taxonomic naming system that extends the standard system of binomial nomenclature by adding a third taxon. ...
Binomial name Xantus de Vesey, 1860 The Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, is a species of owl. ...
North America North America is a continent[1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ...
Genera Aegolius: saw-whet owls Asio: eared owls Athene Bubo: horned owls Ciccaba Glaucidium: pygmy owls Jubula Ketupa Lophostrix Micrathene: elf owls Mimizuku Nesasio Ninox Otus: scops owls Pseudoscops Pulsatrix Pyrroglaux: palau owls Sceloglaux Scotopelia Speotyto Strix: earless owls Surnia: hawk owls Uroglaux Xenoglaux Typical owls (family Strigidae) are one...
Genus Strix Linnaeus, 1758 Strix is a genus of owls in the typical owl family Strigidae. ...
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 Columbia 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. For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation). ...
Motto: Splendor sine occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Official languages English Government - Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point - Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 36 - Senate seats 6 Confederation July 20, 1871 (6th province) Area Ranked 5th - Total 944,735 km...
Marin County is a county located in Californias San Francisco Bay Area, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area Ranked 3rd - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²) - Width 250 miles (400 km) - Length 770 miles (1,240 km) - % water 4. ...
Most Spotted Owls occur on US federal lands (Forest Service, Bureau of Land Managament, 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. The diet consists mainly of woodrats (Neotoma sp.) and flying squirrels, although it will also eat other small mammals, reptiles, birds, and insects. Spotted Owls 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. Two groups of rodents are referred to as flying squirrels. ...
Reproduction Male and females mate in February or March and the female lays two or three eggs in March or April. The eggs incubate thirty days. After hatching the young owls stay with the female eight to ten days and fledge in thirty four to thirty six 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 twenty four miles from the parents.
Threats The greatest threat to spotted owl populations has historically been the loss of old-growth forest, which contains large dead trees for nesting and prey habitat, as well as cool, dark roosts under the dense overstory canopy. Fragmentation of remaining habitat results from logging and roads. Fragmentation has led to a recent invasion by the Barred Owl (Strix varia) from the eastern US. Barred owls are larger, and more aggressive, and are thought to compete for both nest-sites and food. They also occasionally attack spotted owls (and humans) and will also mate and hybridize with spotted owls. Barred owls are thought to have taken advantage of logged, younger stands of trees, which more closely resemble the stands of smaller trees found in the eastern range. Additional threats to Spotted Owls include substantial loss of habitat to wildfire and forest diseases, and also the West Nile Virus.
Status There are approximately three to five thousand pairs remaining in the wild, mostly in the states of Washington, Oregon and California.[1] The Canadian population now numbers less than 20 birds.
United States Fish and Wildlife Service reviewed the status of the Northern Spotted Owl in 1982 and 1987, finding it did not warrant listing as threatened or endangered. Reviews in 1989 and 1990 proposed listing as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act throughout its range (northern California, Oregon and Washington), citing loss of old-growth habitat as the primary threat. This was implemented on 1990-06-23.[2] Logging in national forests was stopped by court order in 1991.[3] The USFWS logo The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a unit of the United States Department of the Interior that is dedicated to managing and preserving wildlife. ...
This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...
Old growth forest, also called primary forest, ancient forest, virgin forest, primeval forest, frontier forest or ancient woodland (in the UK), is an area of forest that has attained great age and so exhibits unique biological features. ...
Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ...
is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article is on national forests in the United States. ...
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.[4] Harvests of timber in the Pacific Northwest were reduced by 80%, decreasing the supply of lumber and increasing prices.[3] The decline in jobs was already in progress because of dwindling old-growth forest harvests and automation of the lumber industry.[4] Subsequent research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison showed 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.[5] University of Wisconsin redirects here. ...
President Lyndon Johnson signs the Wilderness Act of 1964 in the White House Rose Garden. ...
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.[4] Plastic spotted owls were hung in effigy in Oregon sawmills.[6] The logging industry, in response to continued bad publicity, started the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.[7] 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.[8]
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.[1]
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.[3][1] 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 owls into the range and habitat of the spotted owl. The USFWS logo The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a unit of the United States Department of the Interior that is dedicated to managing and preserving wildlife. ...
Binomial name Barton, 1799 The Barred Owl, Strix varia, is a large typical 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 have been criticized by environmental groups as significantly weakening existing protections for the species. At the same time, the Bush administration wants to lift restrictions on logging and other human activity in 23 percent of the land now designated as critical habitat for the spotted owl, citing research indicating that the species does not always require vast tracts of old-growth forest.[8][1] A new emphasis on control of barred owl populations through culling has been criticized, with at least one scientist on the USFWS recovery team calling this proposal "a deception to deflect blame away from habitat destruction".[9] Binomial name Barton, 1799 The Barred Owl, Strix varia, is a large typical owl. ...
See also Orders Accipitriformes Cathartidae Pandionidae Accipitridae Sagittariidae Falconiformes Falconidae A bird of prey or raptor is a bird that hunts its food, especially one that preys on mammals or other birds. ...
References - ^ a b c d Brad Knickerbocker. "Northern spotted owl's decline revives old concerns", Christian Science Monitor, June 27, 2007.
- ^ Federal register 55 FR 26114-26194. Northern Spotted Owl Five-year Review at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
- ^ a b c Brokaw, Jeanne. Mother Jones; Nov/Dec96, Vol. 21 Issue 6, p15, 1p, 1c.
- ^ a b c Satchell, M. U.S. News & World Report; 6/25/90, Vol. 108 Issue 25, p27, 3p, 6c.
- ^ Guglielmino, Janine. American Forests; Summer97, Vol. 103 Issue 2, p6, 2/3p, 1bw.
- ^ Adams, Larry. Wood & Wood Products; Dec99, Vol. 104 Issue 13, p62, 1p, 1c.
- ^ Sustainable Forestry Initiative. http://www.aboutsfi.org/
- ^ a b [1] American Lands Alliance Action Alert, May 15, 2007
- ^ Verhovek, Sam Howe. "To protect spotted owl, larger rival is targeted", Los Angeles Times, June 4, 2007.
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