Barred Owl Space Use and Habitat Selection in the Eastern Cascades, Washington

Abstract Competition with barred owls (Strix varia varia) is an important factor contributing to the continued decline of threatened northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) populations in the Pacific Northwest, USA, but basic information on habitat selection and space use patterns of barred owls is lacking for much of the region. We investigated space use and habitat selection by tracking radiotagged barred owls in the Eastern Cascade Range of Washington, USA, from 2004 to 2006. We surveyed for barred owls across the 309-km2 study area and confirmed presence of barred owl pairs at 21 sites. We collected movement data on 14 barred owls from 12 sites. Mean annual 95% fixed-kernel home-range size was 194 ha for females (n  =  4, SD  =  70) and 288 ha for males (n  =  5, SD  =  114). Home ranges were located more frequently than expected in areas with low topographic position, gentle slopes, large overstory tree-crown diameter, high normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), overstory tree canop...