AdvertisementBarred owls and spotted owls are similar in appearance and the birds can even interbreed. Barred owls are considered a top threat to northern spotted owls, which are scarce but widely distributed in Northern California, Oregon and Washington. If barred owls’ expansion is left unchecked, some experts believe they’ll go on to decimate California spotted owls — which inhabit California’s central and southern mature forests. A California spotted owl photographed in the San Gabriel National Monument, Angeles National Forest, in 2009. AdvertisementThere are as few as 3,000 northern spotted owls left on federal lands.
