Nest trees of northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) in Washington and Oregon, USA.

ABSTRACT: The northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) is a federally-threatened subspecies in the United States associated with late-successional forests. In mesic forests it nests primarily in tree cavities, but also uses various types of external platform nests in drier forests. We describe 1717 northern spotted owl nests in 16 different tree species in five study areas in Washington and Oregon in the Pacific Northwest, USA. The vast majority of nests (87%) were in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) trees, except on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, where nests were about equally abundant in Douglas-fir, western red cedar (Thuja plicata), and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) trees. Distribution of nests was 57.9% in top cavities of trees with broken tops, 20.3% in side cavities of

SUBMITTER: Wilk RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5979023 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature