Home Range Attributes and Habitat Selection of Barred Owls and Spotted Owls in an Area of Sympatry

Abstract

AbstractWe compared home range areas and habitat selection of radio-marked Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis) and Barred Owls (Strix varia) in an area of sympatry in the northern Cascade Range of Washington in 1986–1989. On average, home ranges of Spotted Owls were 3–4 times larger than ranges of Barred Owls, and there was little overlap of home ranges during the breeding season. Ranges of both species tended to expand during winter. Home range size of both species was negatively correlated with the amount of old forest, but the negative slope of the regression was much steeper for Spotted Owls than for Barred Owls. For both species, home ranges of individual owls typically had high overlap among seasons and years, indicating high site fidelity. Barred Owls generally occupied home ranges at lower elevations than Spotted Owls (mean = 386 ± 27 m vs. 750 ± 68 m). Both species tended to use old forests more than expected, but Spotted Owls tended to use other cover types less than expected, whereas Barred Owls used most other cover types in proportion to their availability. We suggest that Spotted Owls may use larger ranges than Barred Owls because they prey selectively on a few species of nocturnal mammals, whereas Barred Owls forage more evenly across a broad range of prey types, including diurnal and aquatic species. The low overlap of Barred Owl and Spotted Owl home ranges suggests that territorial Barred Owls exclude Spotted Owls from their territories, at least during the breeding season, thus reducing the amount of habitat available to Spotted Owls.