A practical guide to bird watching in Sonoma County, California
(Unless otherwise indicated, all phone numbers are in the 707 area code)
Barn Owl is present and widespread in Sonoma County all year long, but it’s not an especially common species. Because of its mainly nocturnal ways, however, it may be more common than we think. Usually found in or near farm or dairy buildings, particularly in the southern and western parts of the county, but also present in suburban settings and even in towns. I personally have seen this bird roosting by day in the window of an empty building in downtown Sebastopol. Has nested recently at Ellis Creek Water Treatment Facility (2010 season). Roosts by day, hunts for small mammals by night. Usually solitary.
Nothing looks quite like a Barn Owl. The heart-shaped face and deeply inset eyes give the bird an alien look. Barn Owl is the only North American member of the family Tytonidae (all others are Strigidae). Underparts vary in color from nearly white to almost cinnamon. Palest birds are males, darkest birds females. Wonderfully efficient hunters of rodents. A family of Barn Owls is said to consume a couple thousand small rodents a year or more.
Selected county sightings: Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail, (Feb 25, 2013, Colin Talcroft); Hole in the Head (Sep 25, 2012, Ruth Rudesill); Owl Canyon (Aug 14, 2012, Dea Freid); Shollenberger Park (May 10, 2012, Alan Wight); King Ridge Rd. (January 24, 2011, Doug Shaw); Tolay Ranch (October 26, 2010, Ruth Rudesill); Ellis Creek Water Treatment Facility (May 22, 2010--nesting birds, Bob Dyer)
Further reading:
Bolander and Parmeter, Birds of Sonoma County California, rev. ed., 2000, p. 71
Brinkley, National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Birds of North America, 2007, p. 256
Burridge, ed., Sonoma County Breeding Bird Atlas, 1995, p. 77
Dunn and Alderfer, eds., National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 5th ed., 2006, p. 256
Dunn and Alderfer, eds., National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 6th ed., 2011, p. 282
Dunne, Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion, 2006, pp. 326
Ehrlich, Dobkin, and Wheye, The Birder's Handbook, paperback edition, 1988, p. 288
Fix and Bezener, Birds of Northern California, 2000, p. 203
Floyd, Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 2008, p. 239
Kaufman, Field Guide to Birds of North America, 2000, p. 130
Kaufman, Field Guide to Advanced Birding, 2011, pp. 81, 317
Lukas, Bay Area Birds: From Sonoma County to Monterey Bay, 2012, pp. 149-150
Parmeter and Wight, Birds of Sonoma County California, Update (2000-2010), 2012, p. 41
Peterson, Birds of Eastern and Central North America, 5th ed., 2002, p. 204
Peterson, Field Guide to Birds of Western North America, 4th ed., 2010, p. 214
Peterson, Western Birds, 3rd ed., 1990, p. 198
Sibley, Field Guide to Birds of Western North America,1st ed., 2003, p. 234
Stokes, Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 1st ed., 2010, p. 396
Vuilleumier, American Museum of Natural History, Birds of North America: Western Region, 2011, p. 200
Voice: Cornell Lab of Ornithology: All About Birds--Barn Owl
© Colin Talcroft, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Unless noted, all photos by the author. If you would like to use one of my images, please ask for permission for non-commercial use with proper credit or commercial use with proper compensation.
Barn Owl, (Marin County) September 2010
Barn Owl
Tyto alba
1990-2013 Sonoma County data. Graph provided by eBird (www.ebird.org), generated June 5, 2013
EBird reported occurrence in Sonoma County