2019 Spotted Owl Breeding Success Near Average

A spotted owl fledgling spotted during a survey in 2018. This year, 19 owls fledged from 12 successful nests.

NPS / Maritte O'Gallagher.

July 2019 - The northern spotted owl monitoring season is winding down, and the results are nearly final as biologists complete the season's surveys. Reproduction for this year was near the average with 19 fledglings counted from 12 successful nests. One nest failed, and ten pairs of owls did not nest this season. Resident single male owls occupied five territories, and nine territories were either unoccupied or had only a single owl detection that we could not confirm in a follow-up visit. In three of those nine sites potentially unoccupied by northern spotted owls, we detected barred owls instead. While occupancy of spotted owls remains high in their territories across Marin County, we will continue to monitor the barred owl population as well. It has increased over the last couple of years, which is a concern because barred owl range expansion has been identified as a main threat to the northern spotted owl's recovery.

For more details, contact Taylor Ellis.

See more from the Bay Area Nature & Science Blog