This barred owl comes to my bird feeder in the morning. I’m wondering why a nocturnal animal would appear in the daylight like this. It sits and stares at me through the window. Is there something wrong with it?—Sabrina D’Agostino, Fairfield County, Conn.
Probably not. “That sounds like typical behaviour for a barred owl,” says Nicole Richardson, a raptor biologist with Birds Canada. “Unless the bird is unable to fly, it’s likely totally fine.”
It’s incorrect that all owls are nocturnal. Many owls are crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk), while some species, such as snowy owls, are known for hunting during the day. At the other end of the spectrum are saw-whet owls—they are literal night owls. You’ll never see one, but they’re all over the place. “There’s probably a saw-whet sleeping within a kilometre of where I’m sitting right now,” says Richardson. As for barred owls, “They’re mostly active at night, but also early in the morning and in the evening,” she says. And in the afternoon. And in the middle of the day. And, well, basically at any time they damn well want. “They tend to break all the owl rules,” says Richardson.
Okay, so it’s not weird to see a barred owl during the day. But why is it staring at you through the window? It’s as if the owl just knows something. Because aren’t they wise? Maybe not. “Barred owls are very, very, very curious,” says Richardson. “But, for lack of another way to put this…they’re not the brightest.”
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Apparently, it doesn’t take much to capture a barred owl’s attention. Which means that it doesn’t take much to capture a barred owl—for the purposes of banding, to monitor populations, for example. “Anything a barred owl thinks it can catch, it will try to catch. So we can capture a barred owl with a stuffed toy—like a cat toy—attached to a string. You pull it, and they go after it,” says Richardson. “Barred owls are funny.”
Don’t worry, barred owl. She’s laughing with you, not at you.
Got a question for Cottage Q&A? Send it to answers@cottagelife.com.
This article was originally published in the Summer 2026 issue of Cottage Life.
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