Owl Prowl at Potomac Overlook Park: A Real Hoot!

On a recent delightful mid-March evening, Potomac Overlook Regional Park hosted a group of adults excited to learn about the owls in the park and hopefully, see some. Roving Naturalist Matt Felperin did not disappoint.

First, he shared some basic information about owls: Owls are carnivorous raptors (from the Latin rapere: “to seize and carry off, take away by force.”) These raptors also have talons—a claw feature that distinguishes them from other carnivorous birds, which they use to catch prey. Owls are mostly nocturnal and are quiet flyers because their wing feathers are frayed. With this trait, Matt said that “the sound their wings create is negligible.”

Matt noted that owl faces are flat, with large eyes that are fixed and forward-facing. They can look around by moving their heads in every direction and most of the way around. How is this. possible? They have twice the number of vertebrae as humans.

Even though they have large eyes, their greatest hunting feature is their extraordinary hearing—they hunt by stealth: listening for sounds their prey make. What helps is that their ears are asymmetrically positioned on their heads. This allows them to triangulate the source of the sound for depth, height, and distance from prey. Matt added that owls can hunt most efficiently within about a 300-foot radius.

Most owls can hunt while roosting. With all these characteristics, Matt called the owl “one of the most elite predators on the planet.” 

Finally, he noted that owls are not social animals, except when they mate. And most owls mate for life.

Matt then introduced us to “Smoke,” Potomac Overlook’s resident Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio). Smoke is a gray morph, having gray feathers to blend into hardwood forests where this bird usually resides.

The Eastern Screech-Owl is quite small: It can grow to 6-9 inches, weigh 5-7 ounces, and have a wingspan of 18-24 inches. Screech-Owls’ small size allows them to hide in small tree cavities, usually created by woodpeckers. They are also in the horned owl group (have tufted ears) and prefer to be close to bodies of water.

Smoke is in captivity because his wings were permanently damaged from a car strike, which is a very common injury to raptors. Matt explained that this can happen when people throw food waste from vehicles, which attracts animals that raptors hunt—and the raptors then get hit by cars.

Matt noted that Screech-Owls can live 15-20 years in captivity and about 8 years in the wild. They can be prey for larger birds, including bigger owls. The Screech-Owl’s call is like a horse whinny. Matt said that campers may hear the call and think there are horses in the woods. Nope. They’re likely Screech-Owls.

Matt then took us outside in hopes of spotting owls in the wild. He explained that the most likely possibility would be a Barred Owl (Strix varia)—the most common owl in the Eastern U.S. We moved up a path about 100 yards from the nature center and stopped. After waiting through a couple of noisy metal birds heading to Reagan National Airport, Matt demonstrated his impressive vocalizations of a Barred Owl, the classic, “Who cooks for you; Who cooks for you- all?” He told us to keep our eyes peeled for moving silhouettes in the upper tree canopy. He then followed his own calls with a recorded version. Success! Peering for silhouettes worked, and Matt was able to shine a bright light on an adult Barred Owl in a tree. The owl then flew off to all of our “oohs and aahs.” While we waited to see if another bird would respond to more recorded calls, most of us were pleased that we saw the single owl.

After the owl siting, Matt led us to a hutch to visit Potomac Overlook’s other captive raptors, “Twiggy,” a Barred owl, “Tiger,” a Great Horned Owl, (Bubo virginianus) and “Squeaker,” a Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus). They were also victims of car strikes; Twiggy and Squeaker suffered permanent wing injuries and Tiger was blinded. They all looked well cared-for, and Matt said that their regular fare is thawed frozen mice. Yum!

To learn more about these three raptors, see an engaging 20-minute video with Matt and Potomac Overlook Naturalist, A.J. Barnard.

Matt’s presentation and the park’s other features were indeed educational and entertaining for adults, and likely for all ages. If you have an opportunity to visit Potomac Overlook Park or see one of Matt’s presentations, you will be owl-fully glad you did.