About the Cover…

The Barred Owl

Photos courtesy Betsy Cross

“Barred Owls don’t migrate, and don’t even move around very much.” —Cornell Lab All About Birds

Betsy Cross

This month’s cover photo of the Barred Owl was taken on the Texas State University campus in San Marcos during the December 2023 Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Our San Marcos CBC team returned to the same spot in the late afternoon of December 15, 2024, hoping to see the bird and add it again to this year’s count. We made numerous attempts to call it up and waited out intermittent downpours in our rain gear. Unfortunately, we did not spot the owl this time around.

However, just a couple of weeks earlier, on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving, I was driving down West McCarty in San Marcos when a large bird flew across my path and landed on a fence post near the entrance to my neighborhood. As I got closer, I realized it was a Barred Owl.

Hays County lies on the western edge of the owl’s year-round range, but it was the first time I’d seen this owl in my area. I only had my cell phone to capture the moment, but the bird posed for me and allowed me to take several shots from my car window. Encountering the owl so close to home felt like an unexpected gift. Every time I pass that spot these days, I find myself looking in the direction of the fence line. My fingers are crossed that I will see the owl again or maybe hear it some evening soon.

At 7:30 a.m. on November 29, 2024, the owl eyed me from across the road and allowed me to snap a few cell phone shots from my car.

More from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

“Barred Owls are easiest to find when they are active at night—they’re a lot easier to hear than to see. Visit forests near water (big bottomland forest along a river is prime Barred Owl habitat) and listen carefully, paying attention for the species’ barking “Who cooks for you?” call. At great distance, this can sound like a large dog. Try imitating the call with your own voice and then wait quietly. If you’re lucky, a territorial Barred Owl will fly in to investigate you. During the daytime, a quiet walk through mature forest might reveal a roosting Barred Owl if you are lucky.”