Photo © Alan Murphy / BIA / Minden Pictures

Barred Owl

The barred owl is named for the streaking (barring) across the bird’s undersides. Barred owls are often very loud when hooting and hollering, and when a territorial pair is challenged by another, the vocalizations turn to caterwauling reminiscent of a couple of monkeys. On rare occasions, this species will emit a loud human-like scream. I’m fairly certain that many Bigfoot hunters have misidentified this owl’s scream as the call of the mythical monster. With dark eyes and no ear tufts, this bird is roughly the size of a football. This year-round resident occurs typically in low-lying areas like creek edges, swamps or bottomland hardwood forests near rivers and lakes, where they search for tasty crawfish, snakes, frogs, birds and rodents. It rarely eats anything larger than a squirrel.