Owls in New Hampshire (8 Species Explained with Pictures)

With its vast expanses of wilderness and quaint, welcoming towns, New Hampshire is a bird-watchers paradise. Head out onto the Appalachian Trail or climb Mount Washington and you’re certain to find a massive array of birds, including eight different species of owls, which make New Hampshire their home either year-round or for just part of the year.

In the fall, you can often find the owls that migrate flying along the Odiorne Point State Park shoreline. Or head to the White Mountains to see some of the more elusive species. But if you want to identify an owl right in your own New Hampshire backyard, don’t worry. These birds will even visit cities and suburbs, as well as farms and rural homes.

Your best chance of seeing owls is in the early morning or late evening, but some will even hang out during the day. If you can learn their calls or what they eat, which we’ll discuss below, you have an even better chance of identifying them.

Here is the list of owls in New Hampshire:

  1. Great Horned Owl
  2. Northern Saw-Whet Owl
  3. Great Gray Owl
  4. Long-Eared Owl
  5. Short-Eared Owl
  6. Eastern Screech Owl
  7. Barred Owl
  8. Snowy Owl

8 Types of Owls in New Hampshire

1. Great Horned Owl

great horned owl
  • Scientific name: Bubo virginianus
  • Size: 20 inches long
  • Weight: 32-88 ounces 
  • Wingspan: 40-57 inches

Most people recognize the great horned owl thanks to its appearance in movies like the Harry Potter franchise and its characteristic hoot. These massive owls can weigh up to five-and-a-half pounds. They have massive claws, and they’re strong fliers, which enables them to take down fierce prey like ospreys and falcons.

Once they clench their claws around something, it takes 28 pounds of force to pry them back apart.

These birds live in every part of North America, from Mexico to the northern parts of Alaska. It’s one of the most common owls and makes itself home in deserts, mountains, forests, and prairies. The great horned owl is just at home in the cities of New Hampshire as it is in the suburbs and wilderness areas.

All this means that you have a good chance of being able to see one. You can find it anywhere in New Hampshire, even in New Hampshire City, and since it’s the second-largest owl in the state, you won’t have to look too hard.

Look for the giant bird with yellow eyes and long tufts of hairs near its ears. They can be gray or cinnamon with barring over a cream or light gray body.

If you were wondering, they can’t really move their heads 360 degrees, despite what you might have heard. They can swivel their head over 180 degrees, though, giving the illusion that they’re turning their head completely around. These birds can’t move their eyes from side to side, so they move their heads back and forth instead.

This amazing ability to move its head this far enables it to hunt its favorite meals, such as rodents, frogs, and raptors like osprey, falcons, and other owls.

2. Northern Saw-Whet Owl

Northern Saw Whet Owl
  • Scientific name: Aegolius acadicus
  • Size: 7.1-8.3 inches long
  • Weight: 2.5-5.3 ounces 
  • Wingspan: 16.5-19 inches

Northern saw-whet owls are petite, about the size of a robin, with a mottled brown and white body. They have big yellow eyes and a heart-shaped face with a small, white V-mark between their eyes.

They are difficult to see, especially because they hunt at night for their favorite food, which is deer mice. But if you listen for their shrill call, you’ll know they’re nearby. During the day, they nest in cavities in trees at about eye height, so you might see them if you look carefully. Don’t disturb the sleeping birds, though! 

They only live in forests, particularly mature forests, so don’t look for them in open areas or cities. They migrate long distances to breed. They eat small rodents like mice and shrews. They’ll also eat birds like chickadees, juncos, waxwings, and sparrows.

They live across the US, with scarce breeding populations in the South and permanent populations in the northern part of the country and throughout the Rocky Mountains and western Coastal ranges. Nonbreeding populations exist across the rest of the country.

The northern saw-whet owl lives in New Hampshire all year long.

3. Great Gray Owl

Great Gray Owl
  • Scientific name: Asio flammeus
  • Size: 24-33inches long
  • Weight: 24.7-60 ounces 
  • Wingspan: 53.9-60 inches

Great gray owls are one of the largest owls in the US. They are larger than a Great Horned Owl, but they are a bit lighter. They sit somewhere in size between a goose and a crow.

As the name suggests, they are gray with silver, white, and brown streaks or bars. They have bright yellow eyes surrounded by brown circles, and a white “X” that separates their eyes. They lack ear tufts but have a large, round head.

They dislike being near humans or human settlements, so they’re hard to find. They’re quiet when they fly, and they don’t call out often, so you’ll usually see them rather than hear them. 

Great Gray Owls live in coniferous forests and hunt small mammals. In New Hampshire, you’ll find this owl hanging out in the winter, though they’re rare. They don’t usually move their home unless they travel further north or to lower elevations to find food. Speaking of, these huge raptors dine on gophers, shrews, voles, squirrels, weasels, and even frogs sometimes. It all depends on what’s available.

4. Long-Eared Owl

Long Eared Owl
  • Scientific name: Asio otus
  • Size: 13.8-15.8 inches long
  • Weight: 7.8-15.3 ounces 
  • Wingspan: 35.5-39.5 inches

Long-eared owls have surprisingly long ear tufts, which is how they got their name. The tufts are black with bits of buff or orange. They have two white lines between their yellow eyes.

They’re slender with mottled brown bodies. These nocturnal birds roots in trees and hunt in grasslands or open country.

You can often identify them by their hoots, squeals, and barks. They are quite vocal. They usually only migrate at night, but they can fly exceptionally long distances. Researchers have identified birds that have traveled from Canada to Mexico in a single year.

Those who live in or are visiting New Hampshire should look for this owl during the breeding season. They might also show up during the winter in the southern fifth of the state. They’re fairly rare, no matter where you are or what time of year, however.

These distinctive owls eat animals like rodents, mice, voles, and gophers, so keep an eye out for them where these rodents are abundant.

5. Short-Eared Owl

short eared owl
  • Scientific name: Asio flammeus
  • Size: 13.4-17 inches long
  • Weight: 7.3-16.9 ounces 
  • Wingspan: 33.5-40.5 inches

You’re right if you guessed that these owls have short ear tufts. Owls have ear tufts to help direct sound to their ears, enabling them to hunt and hear potential predators. Short-eared owls have ear tufts, but they’re small, like little horns.

They’re distinctive owls because they have brown and white mottling edged in black bars. The face is cream with dark black outlines around the yellow eyes.

Their distinctive appearance makes it easier to spot them, but the fact that they are active during the day makes it even easier to see them. They even have a distinct, moth-like flight pattern that makes identification even simpler.

Unlike many owls, they don’t prefer wooded areas. They like open fields and grasslands, where they sit on the ground and watch and listen for prey to catch. Then, they fly up and dive down to catch their meal, which may include rats, mice, lemmings, rabbits, shrews, and bats. They even nest in the ground.

Short-eared owls live in most of New Hampshire during the winter and only year-round in the northern part of the state.

6. Eastern Screech Owl

Eastern Screech Owl
  • Scientific name: Megascops asio
  • Size: 6.3-9.8 inches long
  • Weight: 4.3-8.6 ounces 
  • Wingspan: 18.9-24.0 inches

The eastern screech owl lives on the east side of the Rocky Mountains for the most part. In New Hampshire, you can find them across all parts of the state all year long, except for the northern fifth of the state. They don’t live there at all.

Eastern screech owls are excellent hiders. Their gray or reddish-brown mottling makes them blend right into the bark of the trees where they like to perch and nest. In fact, you might not even notice them until you see their bright yellow eyes shining.

They have distinct ear tufts and a yellow beak, with a dark V between their eyes.

These owls are night hunters, which makes them even more of a challenge to see. Your best bet is to listen for the whining trill call that they make and then keep your eyes peeled. They are vocal when hunting for their dinner. They eat things like small mammals, earthworms, insects, and amphibians.

If you’re not big on bird-watching at night, look at the cavities of trees as you walk around their native range. You should be able to see them as they sleep the day away.

7. Barred Owl

barred owl
  • Scientific name: Strix varia
  • Size: 17-20 inches long
  • Weight: 16.6-37 ounces 
  • Wingspan: 39-43 inches

The barred owl is similar in length to the great horned owl, but they weigh much less. They are mottled brown and white with distinct bars across their entire body. The bars on the breasts are vertical and horizontal on the rest of their bodies.

These aren’t noisy birds. They generally keep quiet, though you can sometimes hear them call out during the day.

Barred owls stick to forested areas, whether that’s the swamp or high up a mountain. You won’t find them in cities or prairies. They live across the entire eastern US and up into Canada. In recent decades, the birds have expanded their range, and now there are also populations in the Pacific Northwest. They don’t migrate during their lives. They stick to one place, making their home in trees. 

However, if they can’t find food, they will travel long distances to hunt their prey, which includes a wide range of critters, like mammals, small birds, reptiles, and insects.

Great horned owls hunt the barred owl, while the barred owl is pushing the endangered spotted owl out of its territory.

Barred owls live in all parts of New Hampshire, from the south edge to the northern border, all year long.

8. Snowy Owl

snowy owl
  • Scientific name: Bubo scandiacus
  • Size: 20.5-28 inches long
  • Weight: 56.5-104 ounces 
  • Wingspan: 49.5-57 inches

Snowy owls are striking birds. The males are mostly white with bright, cat-like yellow eyes. The females and immature birds have dark brown or black spots. The males become whiter as they age.

Snowy owls live in the Arctic Circle, where they hunt for mammals such as lemming and ptarmigans during the long summer days. They travel south to Canada, Alaska, and the very northern parts of the US during the winter months. 

Most of the time, you can see them sitting on the ground near their hunting areas. They’ll also perch on power or telephone poles, fences, hay bales, and abandoned structures. They fly low to the ground as they scan the tundra or fields where they hunt.

In New Hampshire, these owls regularly visit during the winter. They eat things like seabirds, mice, hares, and lemmings.

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