Five Owl Neighbors for Halloween

Ghostly white owls float on the breeze,

Performing an encore draped by the trees.

~From “Dance of the Barn Owl,” a poem by Susan Wood

The only thing I love more about birding than watching birds is sharing my observations with others. But I am very careful with whom I share my owl sightings, as they are at the center of many grim superstitions. Many cultures—my Eastern European Jewish culture included—believe owls to be harbingers of bad luck at best, death at worst. That is why I didn’t think to share with my parents this shot—stunning as it was—of a barred owl I saw while hiking the TAM one afternoon. To them the, owl, or sova in Russian, is so foreboding that they’d be up all night wondering who was about to fall ill or die.

Having been ruled by some scary superstitions in childhood, I decided that, in adulthood, I’d try to stare my irrational fears straight in the eyes to demystify them. This has been easy to do with owls since their eyes—like ours—are in front of their faces. Like us, owls have binocular vision, which some say might be at the heart of our fascination with them. Might they see the world the same way we do?

We might fear owls because they hunt in solitude by night, inhabit ruins and abandoned places, make mournful sounds. The ancient Greeks, on the other hand, believed owls represented wisdom, and owl visitors, good fortune. According to Greek mythology, the owl guarded the Goddess Athena’s blind side in battle, and Greek soldiers believed owl sightings were a sign of certain victory in battle.

Whether you welcome or fear owls, they are inarguably mysterious. While it is common to fear that which we do not understand, sometimes—as my kids would say, especially around this time of year—it’s fun to be a little bit afraid.

In case you and your family are up for an owl prowl on these long, dark nights, here are five owls you are likely to see in Cornwall, VT, depending on where you happen to be walking:

🦉 Barred Owl:

(Photo taken on the TAM in Middlebury, VT)

Field ID/Marks: stocky, medium-large, dark eyes, streaked belly, spotted back and wings

Sounds/pneumonic: Hoot sounds like, “Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all?” Also caterwauls similar to monkeys panting and hooting.

Preferred Habitat: Stands of tall red maples, forests with light understory to easily hunt for small mammals any time of day, but more commonly at dusk and night.

🦉🦉 Great-Horned Owl:

(Photo of an ambassador owl taken at the Audubon Center in Huntington, VT)

Field ID/Marks: Large, tufted, barred brown and black, and orange face.

Sounds/pneumonic: Hoot sounds like, “Who’s awake? Who? Who?” or “Who’s awake? Me too.”

Preferred Habitat: Hunts for small mammals strictly at night in any open area—wooded, rural or suburban. Roosts in abandoned hawk nests or on secluded cliff edges.

🦉🦉🦉 Eastern Screech Owl:

(Photo Credit: David Wade/ Macaulay Library)

Field ID/Marks: Small, stocky, tufted, patterned intricately for excellent camouflage against wooded habitat. Three color morphs: Red, brown, gray.

Sounds:/pneumonic: Descending high-pitched whinny, like a horse; also a long tremolo

Preferred Habitat: Open woodland, strictly nocturnal, roosts during the day in abandoned woodpecker holes and other tree-cavities, hunts at night for insects and rodents from low perches on forest edges.

🦉🦉🦉🦉 Northern Saw-whet Owl:

(Photo Credit: Ana Paula Oxom/ Macaulay Library)

Field ID/Marks: Smallest northeastern owl, noticeable white “V” shape between eyes, streaking on chest and white spots on wings.

Sounds:/pneumonic: Continuous, rhythmic, high “hoot-hoot-hoot” very similar to a truck backing up.

Preferred Habitat: Strictly nocturnal in mature coniferous and deciduous forests. Nests in tree cavities, roosts by day in dense vegetation, hunts small mammals. Some stay year-round and some are short-distance migrants southward.

🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉 Snowy Owl:

(Photo credit: Kevin Vande Vusse/ Macaulay Library)

Field ID/Marks: Large, untufted, mostly white or white with gray spots, yellow eyes.

Sounds:/pneumonic: High, prolonged scream

Preferred Habitat: Migrates from breeding grounds in northern tundra southward to northern United States. Healthy owls are mostly nocturnal when not stressed for food, but can sometimes be seen during the day. Prefers open fields and marshes, haybales, coastal sand dunes. Perches on ground or on fence posts or telephone poles sometimes in daylight.

Do you have any owl-related superstitions or lore? Have you had an owl encounter? Do you have any questions you’d like answered or wisdom about owls you’d like to share? Please post in the comments section.

Recommended guide:

https://www.abebooks.com/9780062413888/Owls-Guide-Species-World-Taylor-0062413880/plp