Take a look at this photo. Can you find three owls?
If you didn’t spot them, scroll down to the second photo below with hints.
These Barred Owls were seen Tuesday in Thornton Creek Park #2, southeast of the 15th Avenue NE bridge. The photographer speculates, “they appeared to be a family, but I am not a wildlife expert.”
According to a wikipedia article,
Barred Owls may be partly responsible for the recent decline of the Northern Spotted Owl, native to Washington, Oregon, and California. Since the 1960s, Barred Owls have been expanding their range westward from the eastern US, perhaps because man-made changes have created new suitable habitat in the west. When Spotted Owls and Barred Owls share the same environment, the latter are generally more aggressive and out-compete the former, leading to decreased populations of the native owls.
Due to this, in 2007 the George W. Bush White House announced a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to shoot Barred Owls to reduce the threat they pose to the Spotted Owl. It was never put into action.
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