Click photo to see complete painting

Long-eared Owl

Status Rare resident. Breeds. Although other nineteenth-century authors had rated it "rare" or "not common," Harold F. Tufts (1899) designated it "common except in winter" in Kings County. Apart from one report each from Annapolis, Digby, Queens and Shelburne counties, all summer reports since 1960 have come from Kings County, where all but one of reported nestings also have occurred. Scattered reports from southwestern counties and nocturnal mist-netting on Bon Portage Island by bird banders from Acadia University in recent years have revealed a distinct outbound migration in October and November. An individual on Sable Island on 29 July 1966 suggests such movements may begin even earlier. Some remain in winter; roosts of 3-12 individuals have been found regularly by Bernard L. Forsythe in mixed woods in Kings County, but only a few have been recorded in other parts of the province at this season. Birds on Cape Sable on 10 May 1972 and 29 March 1981 were presumably returning migrants.

Description Length: 35-42 cm. Adults: Similar in general appearance to the Great Horned Owl but much smaller, having conspicuous ear tufts. Upperparts are mottled with varying shades of brown, black and white; facial disc is buffy brown, blending into a dark brown border; underparts buffy white, streaked and barred with light and dark shades of brown; tail barred. Eyes yellow; feet and toes feathered.

Breeding Nest: Seldom, perhaps never, builds its own nest. Usually eggs are laid in an old crow or hawk nest; sometimes they are placed on top of the thick, parasitic growth of mistletoe (Arceuthobium pusillum) locally known as "witch's broom," commonly found on spruce trees. Nests are located in thick, evergreen woods, usually if not always near the edge of a cleared space. They are lined with soft grass matted with feathers from the parent bird. Eggs: 4-5; white and rounded ovate. Laying begins during the second half of April. A nest lined with grass at Greenwich, Kings County, examined on 1 May 1955 contained four eggs freshly laid in what had been a crow's nest. A nest found by R.W. Smith on Wolfville Ridge on 17 May 1930 contained five slightly incubated eggs in a depression the bird had scraped in a growth of mistletoe and lined with soft dry grass mixed with feathers. The nest was 6 m up a spruce and the bird refused to leave until the climber came within a metre or two. Three young in juvenile plumage, out of the nest only a few days, were seen at dusk at Oak Island, Kings County, on 16 July 1943.

Range Breeds from southern Mackenzie River, central Manitoba, central Ontario, southern Quebec, and Nova Scotia, south to Arizona, Arkansas and West Virginia. Winters from its northern breeding range south to the Gulf States and Mexico. Found also in the Old World.

Remarks Among our "beneficial" owls this species ranks near the top. According to Bent (1938) its food, on a seasonal average, is 80-90 percent injurious rodents, and he knows not a single instance of one having attacked domestic poultry. Of 16 stomachs examined by Mendall (1944), mice were found in 14, shrews in 2, a bat in 1 and insects in 1. It is obvious the bird merits the year-round protection afforded it under provincial statute.

A highly nocturnal hunter, its daylight hours are spent in marked seclusion in deep evergreen woods, which suggests it may be present in larger numbers than records indicate.

The terms "long-eared" and "short-eared" are confusing because they are not descriptive of the owls' ears but refer to tufts of feathers which are erectile on the tops of their heads. Sometimes the tufts are laid back and quite inconspicuous, particularly in the case of the Short-eared Owl.