Barred Owl Specimen Records for Montana

NOTES

BARRED OWL SPECIMEN RECORDS FOR MONTANA

DAVID H. ELLIS, Montana Departmentof Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 1420 E. Sixth, Helena, Montana 59620 (presentaddress: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,Patuxent WildlifeResearch Center, Laurel, Maryland20708) DWIGHT G. SMITH, BiologyDepartment, Southern Connecticut State University,New Haven, Connecticut 06515 PHILIP L. WRIGHT, Departmentof Zoology,University of Montana,Missoula, Montana 59812

Taylor and Forsman(1976) reportedrecent range extensionsof the BarredOwl ($trix varia)in westernNorth America. Boxall and Stepney(1982) described the species' distribution and statusin Alberta.Shea (1974) summarizedsightings, a photographicrecord, and several vocalization records of Barred Owls in western Montana but collected no specimens.Although published nesting records are not available,D. Flath (pers.comm.) statedthat breedingis occasionallyreported for the Blackfoot,Bitterroot, and Fisherriver valleys(see also Skaar et al. 1985). Markset al. (1984) reportedprey identifiedfrom 37 BarredOwl pelletsfrom westernMontana. Saunders(1921) reportedthat Thomascol- lectedthree Barred Owls near Billings,but the specimenshave never been locatedand Skaar(1975 and pets.comm.) questioned their authenticity. Here we reportthe first extant Barred Owl specimensfor Montana and a range extensioneast acrossthe continental divide. During1974 threeBarred Owls were found dead in Montana.The firstspecimen (Univ. Montana No. 15710), a road kill, was found by Ellisand Gus Wolfe on 13 April on Highway200 1.6 km westof the junctionof highways200 and 287 in Lewisand Clark County,east of the continentaldivide. The locationis on the openprairie about 30 km east of the forestedfoothills of the RockyMountains. On 26 April Peter WidenerIV and Ellis locatedthe remainsof a secondBarred Owl in PowellCounty about 0.5 km southof the northfork of the BlackfootRiver and approximately73 km southwestof the firstspecimen. The scatteredremains of this owl (Univ. Montana No. 15709) suggestedthat it had been pluckedby an avianpredator perched ca.5 m up on a horizontallimb in a maturestand of PonderosaPine (Pinusponderosa). The third bird, an adult female (Univ. Montana No. 15807), was picked up (finder unknown) dead near Patomac, MissoulaCounty, in September 1974. Two other recordsare well substantiatedand deservemention. An injured bird, recovered21 December1976, was rehabilitatedby the John Craigheadfamily and re- leased6 February1977 on the Lee MetcalfNational Wildlife Refuge, Ravalli County. Final- ly, a road-killedfemale was found 4 October1981, 1.6 km westof PatomacBar, Highway 200, MissoulaCounty, by Lynne Meggsand deliveredto the University(Univ. Montana No. 17145). In the years followingcollection of the 1974 specimens,occasional sightings and vocalizationrecords were reportedin issuesof AmericanBirds. These, the unpublished referencesto nesting,the food habitsreport (Markset al. 1984), and the two additional specimenrecords all suggestthat the BarredOwl has becomeincreasingly common in Montanasince the early 1970s. P.D. Skaarprovided information on earlyliterature and kindlyread a previousversion of thismanuscript. Ellis' travels were financedby the MontanaDepartment of Fish,Wildlife and Parks.

LITERATURE CITED

Boxall,P.C.. and Stepney.P.H.R. 1982. The distributionand statusof the BarredOwl in Alberta. Can. Field-Nat. 96: 46-49. WesternBirds 18: 217-218, 1987 217 NOTES

Marks, J.S., Hendricks, D.P., and Marks, V.S. 1984 Winter food habits of Barred Owls in western Montana. Murrelet 65: 27-28. Saunders, A.A. 1921. A distributionallist of the birdsof Montana. Pac. Coast Avifauna 14. $hea, D.$. 1974. Barred Owl records in western Montana. Condor 76: 222. Skaar, D., Flath, D., and Thompson,L.S. 1985. P.D. Skaar'sMontana bird distribution. Mont. Acad. Sci. Monogr. 3. Skaar,P.D. 1975. Montanabird distribution. Preliminary mapping by latilong.P.D. Skaar. Bozeman, MT. Taylor,A.L. Jr., and Forsman,E.D. 1976. Recentrange extensions of the BarredOwl in westernNorth America,including the firstrecords for Oregon. Condor 78: 560-561. Accepted30 November 1987

Barred Owl Sketch by Cameron Barrows

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