The Adorable Mexican Spotted Owl - By Natalie Montoya

MEXICAN SPOTTED OWL Strix occidentalis lucida

Description and Ecology

This adorable and famous creature is the Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis lucida). As visible in the picture, this owl is brown with white white spots. It is a medium sized owl which, like other Spotted Owls has dark eyes. It can be differentiated from other spotted owls by it’s light appearance due to the larger size and occurrence of the white spots. On average, females are larger than males and they have the similar plumage. As juveniles they have a downy appearance, and young adults have pointed tail feathers with a pure white terminal band and are otherwise similar to the adults.

You are more likely to hear them then see them, because they are territorial and nocturnal. They call mainly from March to November and most frequently during the two hours after sunset. You might hear the males make four unevenly spaced hoots or the females make a clear whistle with an upward inflection accompanied by sharp barks.

Geographic and Population Changes 

The Mexican Spotted Owl lives in forested mountains and canyonlands throughout the southwestern U.S. and Mexico. The Owl is not evenly distributed in its large range, rather the owl occurs in disjunct areas that correspond with isolated mountain ranges and canyon systems. Unfortunately, there is limited information about the Mexican Spotted Owls in Mexico. It is typically considered a “habitat specialist” because it roosts and nests in late seral forests or rocky canyon habitats. It forages in a wider variety of habitats including both managed and unmanaged forests, riparian zones, and cliffs faces and terraces. Some owls migrate down in elevation in the winter.

Population trends for the spotted owls are unclear, and because they are long lived the studies must be long term. We do know that environmental factors greatly affect the Mexican Spotted Owl and, therefore, understanding how the owl responds to environmental variation is critical to its recovery.

Listing Date and Type of Listing 

The original approval date was October 16, 1995. A revision was approved on September 5, 2012 with the final approval date on November of 2012. The Mexican Spotted Owl is listed as threatened under the endangered species act.

Cause of listing and Main threats to its continued existence 

Originally, the Owl was listed because of habitat alteration due to timber-management practices and the danger of stand-replacing wild land fire. Under the revision, increased risk of stand-replacing wild land fire is the largest factor. Due to climate variability like drought and current forest conditions there has been an increase of habitat destroyed by fire since the first listing. Significant portions of spotted owl habitat have been lost or modified, with over 70% of the 1,037,000 acres which have been changed from suitable to capable being converted directly due to human activities. An increase of transition habitats caused by human activities like development has increased the likelihood that the Owl will come in contact with its raptor predators. 

Description of Recovery Plan 

The new recovery strategy has six key elements which involve forest habitat management and vigilant monitoring that are designed to conserve the Owl throughout its range. These new goals are intended to be flexible because decisions can be made by local land managers site specifically. They are:

1. Protecting existing owl sites.

2. Managing for recovery nest/roost habitat to replace that lost to fire and other events and to provide additional sites for an expanding population.

3. Managing threats

4. Monitoring population trends and habitat. 

5. Monitoring plan implementation

6. Building partnerships to facilitate recovery.

The Owls range expands across political lines into the lands of the United States, sovereign Indian nations, and Mexico. In order to successfully accomplish the goals set forth in this recovery plan, these nations, as well as the private sector, must commit to work together.

This blog is a summary of the information presented in the Recovery Plan for the Mexican Spotted Owl. Pictures and additional information are from the website for the Center for Biological Diversity ( http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/birds/Mexican_spotted_owl/ ), and Forrest Policy Pub ( http://forestpolicypub.com/2013/06/19/spotted-owls-the-spotty-sciences-that-spawned-them-5-questions-2/ ), and Sustainable Pulse ( http://sustainablepulse.com/2012/11/22/northern-spotted-owl-millions-acres-protection/#.VXWaU5NViko ).