The Spotted Owl 
No. 213 
Spotted Owl 
A. 0 . U. No. 369. Strix occidentalis (Xantus). 
Synonyms.— Western Barred Owl. Xantus’s Owl. Hoot Owl. Wood 
Owl. 
Description.— Adults: Above warm brown, spotted with white and varied, 
slightly, by ochraceous, the spots rounded on head and back, broader on cervix and 
wings; the quills and tail irregularly spotted, or broken-barred, with dull ochraceous 
or pale brown, irregularly changing to white; sides of breast much like back, the remain¬ 
ing underparts dull ochraceous boldly spotted on middle of breast and on belly and sides 
with white, and irregularly marked, or herring-bone-barred, with warm brown; the 
flanks, legs (including tarsi), and wing-linings with very little white, mottled or faintly 
barred brownish and ochraceous instead; feathers about base of bill chiefly white with 
brownish black shafts; facial disc behind and above eye dark ochraceous, faintly 
concentric-barred with dark brown; the rim of disc darker brown (nearly bister) on 
inner aspect, finely mingled brown, ochraceous and white on outer aspect (thus curiously 
epitomizing the whole color scheme). Bill bluish dusky basally, changing to yellow 
on tip; claws light brown. Nestlings: Chiefly pale brownish buffy, broadly barred 
except on head and legs with light brown. Length of male about 466.09 (18.35); wing 
320 (12.60); tail 215 (8.47); bill from cere 21.3 (.84); tarsus 59 (2.32). Females average 
larger; length up to 482.60 (19.00). 
Recognition Marks. —Crow size; rounded appearance of head; strikingly white- 
spotted; smaller and without “horns,” as distinguished from Pacific Horned Owl. 
Nesting.— Nest: Usually an old Raven’s nest, lodged in cranny of cliff; in 
default of such bird probably uses unlined cranny, much after the fashion of Bubo 
virginianus. Eggs: 2 or 3; subspherical, white. Av. size 47.75 x 40.6 (1.88 x 1.60) 
(Peyton). Season: March—April; one brood. 
General Range. —Western North America from northern Mexico and northern 
Lower California north along the coast to British Columbia, and in the mountains to 
southern Colorado. 
Distribution in California. —rNot common resident in Upper Sonoran and 
Lower Transition zones west of the Sierran divide. Most common in San Diegan 
district. 
Authorities.--Baird ( Syrnium nebulosum), Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., vol. ix., 1858, 
p. 921 (Ft. Tejon); Xantus, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. xi., 1859, pp. 190, 193 
(orig. desc.; type locality, Ft. Tejon); Swarth, Univ. Calif. Pub. Zook, vol. vii., 1910, 
p. 3 (desc. juvenal; crit.); ibid., Condor, vol. xvi., 1915, p. 15 (desc., meas., crit.); 
Dickey, Condor, vol. xvi., 1914, p. 193, figs, (desc., photos, etc.; Ventura Co.); Ober- 
holser, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 49, 1915, p. 251 (syst.; monogr.). 
EVEN the sight of a Spotted Owl is counted a bit of a rarity in 
these parts; and specimens taken are still dutifully reported in the col¬ 
umns of the “Condor,” or elsewhere. Yet when the great day comes, 
the bird of mystery is likely to prove as obliging as a well-bred hen— 
or shall we say as a sleepy rooster? It may be his favorite roost that we 
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