Ben Kehoe, a park ranger for Allegheny County Parks, will be our guide for The Allegheny Front’s Owl Prowl at Hartwood Acres on October 21. The Allegheny Front’s Kara Holsopple met up with him to learn more about Pennsylvania’s owls.
Inside a park building, Kehoe talked about Allegheny County’s four most common owl species using specimens on loan from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, beginning with a great horned owl.
It has menacing talons used to catch and kill prey, and two tufts sticking up from its head that look like horns.
“I believe that’s where they got their name,” said Kehoe. “Those are just feathers, and have a really good name, they’re called ‘plumicorns.’”
Kehoe said they may be there for expression, and also to break up the roundness of their heads. Why? Since most things aren’t perfectly round in nature, a round-headed predator might startle prey.
The collection also includes a barred owl with its vertically striped feather plumage, and two smaller species: the eastern screech owl, and Pennsylvania’s smallest, the northern saw-whet.
LISTEN to the conversation
Kara Holsopple: Tell me a little bit about some of these owls’ habits.
Ben Kehoe: When the full moon comes out, a larger owl, like the great horned owl, may feel a little more confidence to go out because they know they aren’t going to be hunted by anything. The barred owl is just one of my favorite owls. They are kind of almost bright white. A lot of times when I’m looking around for owls, I will see a wasp’s nest and I’m like, “Oh, that’s a barred owl.” There is a kind of resemblance even in the shape of them. They are a little bit different from great horned owls in that they have a completely round head and dark eyes. Only two of our eight owl species in Pennsylvania have all black or dark eyes. It is the barred owl and the barn owl.
Kara Holsopple: I see you have an envelope of barred owl feathers. Can we look at them?
Ben Kehoe: We have the [state] licenses to collect feathers. I also have the feather of a woodpecker called a northern flicker. I always like to show the difference between them. So describing the northern flicker feather, it’s got a yellow shaft on it. But you can see just how smooth the feather is. And then looking at the barred owl feather, notice that it has some fringe. It almost looks like the feather’s really old. But they use this fringe and also on the leading edge, they’ll have some hardened feathers that break up the turbulence. The thing that makes noise for birds flying is the wind turbulence. Through these frayed feathers, they’re able to break up the air. Nocturnal prey also have really great hearing and really great sight. So owls just need this extra thing to be able to capture their prey. It’s called silent flight, which they get through the structure of their feathers.
Kara Holsopple: The prey doesn’t hear them coming.
Ben Kehoe: Yes, you can have an owl fly right over your head and you won’t even hear them.
Kara Holsopple: What kind of habitat do owls prefer?
Ben Kehoe: Owls like great horned owls like more forested areas. Barred owls, you can find them closer to water because they, every once in a while, like to hunt for crayfish, which is really cool. The eastern screech owl, they can pretty much live anywhere that they can find a nesting hole. They like to nest in cavities that are made by woodpeckers or falling limbs. Eastern screech owls we do find around humans because they’re avoiding great horned owls. And they don’t really need too much to be happy. They need some trees with nesting cavities in them and some prey to hunt, which humans do have around their houses in the form of rodents or other small birds. And in the summertime, they like to hunt for larger moths.
I think one of the questions I get most about a nighttime bird sound are from screech owls because they do not sound like owls at all.
Kara Holsopple: What do they sound like?
Ben Kehoe: I always ask kids, what do you think a screech owl sounds like? And they always say, “Eee, eee.” They start making noises. But they actually sound like a tiny little horse. I like to describe them as a tiny, little ghost horse that is singing from a tree. They also have a trill song that kids say sounds like little turkey, but I like to think of them as tiny little Chewbacca.
Kara Holsopple: What are the biggest threats to owls in our region?
Ben Kehoe: Human hazards, things like window collisions, outdoor cats, habitat destruction, things like invasive species coming in, which do affect prey and affect maybe some of the trees they depend on for nesting in. Pretty much anything that affects songbirds, I’d say would affect a bird of prey and other raptors. And I think one of the main ones that does not affect songbirds is rodenticides. People don’t want rats around their houses and they will set out poisons, and if an owl catches that rat that has ingested poison, then they will get poisoned as well.
Kara Holsopple: If folks want to look for owls when they’re not at an owl prowl with a professional, what kind of method would they use?
Ben Kehoe: When looking for owls at night, I would just keep your ears open. You never know when an owl is going to sing, especially if you go camping and you’re in the woods. That’s when we’ll hear the barred owls and the great horned owls. If you’re in your neighborhood, around your house, I would definitely just learn the call of a screech owl.
During the daytime, if you hear a lot of robins yelling, a lot of bluejays screaming nonstop or crows, you might just want to investigate because there could just be an owl hanging out there. Maybe they’re feeling stubborn and they don’t want to move and all the birds are yelling at them. So that is sort of my cue to just go out and investigate.
Kara Holsopple: How are owls good neighbors to us and what can we do to be better neighbors to owls?
Ben Kehoe: Owls are apex predators, so they are good neighbors in the way that they control maybe some of our pest species. Farmers really like it when they have a barn owl, especially in central Pennsylvania where there’s a lot more farms. Barn owls are almost like flying cats. They will go out and just catch a bunch of rodents. One thing I love about owls is that they are a way to just bring people into birds because they are just such a fascinating animal that everyone seems to love. So in terms of what they do for conservation of birds is just to get people interested in birds.
And things that we can do to protect them, I would say at night, if you can, if you don’t have lights that need to be on for safety, just turn your lights off, especially during migration season. Another way you can support birds would be finding some local bird conservation groups around you or maybe some wildlife rehabbers. A lot of those organizations are either small non-profits or are really helped out by volunteers. Either support them through donations or support them by going to the programs. I’m sure they would appreciate it.
More nighttime animal hikes in the Pittsburgh area:
