Interesting article. The horizontal barring is something I would not think to look at and I’m not sure I would be able to tell without both owls there to compare!
I look for the thicker vertical lines first, and that’s usually enough to do it since I don’t see many ESO with thick lines, then I look for the boat anchor horizontal lines if I need to.
I feel like I see way more ESO pics than WSO ones though, so if you guess ESO I’d say you have about an 80% chance of getting it right!
Great camouflage! Aside from their ranges not overlapping, are they much different from Eastern Screechies?
Plumage and vocalization are the main difference.
Those seem to be the main subspecies distinctions in many species of owl.
I posted a good article on the differences you can check out here.
Interesting article. The horizontal barring is something I would not think to look at and I’m not sure I would be able to tell without both owls there to compare!
I look for the thicker vertical lines first, and that’s usually enough to do it since I don’t see many ESO with thick lines, then I look for the boat anchor horizontal lines if I need to.
I feel like I see way more ESO pics than WSO ones though, so if you guess ESO I’d say you have about an 80% chance of getting it right!