The Owlet Mall and more : March 2016

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Owls in the News: Lawsuit Filed for California Spotted Owl

Owls have been struggling to survive for decades and the California Spotted Owl is no exception. Found primarily in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, their numbers are being threatened by logging, urban development, and even from the more aggressive barred owls. Consequently, the Center for Biological Diversity, along with a few other groups, presented a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list this bird as endangered. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, they have not yet acted on this petition and, therefore, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the imperative need of this protection. According to the Center Biological Diversity, the decision from the US Fish and Wildlife Service was due in January 2016.

Spotted Owls are medium sized owls with large white spots on their chest and belly. They lack ear turfs and have with big brown eyes. They have overall brown feathers, with the California subspecies' hue being between the lighter Northern Spotted and the darker Mexican Spotted.

The California Spotted Owls prefer to live in high elevation in mature dense forests. Their main prey are the flying squirrel and the dusky-footed woodrat.