© 2007 Hans Peeters ...Science Art-Birds

Title: Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina)
Artist: Hans Peeters (for further information, click on the artist's name)
Image size: c. 10" x 14"
Media: watercolor and gouache
Date: 2006
Location: Artist's possession.

The artist notes: "Spotted Owls are highly temperature sensitive and need a range of microhabitats within their territories that supply various thermal options to stay cool.  Old Growth coastal forests provide ideal variety. The Northern Spotted Owl is not only losing this habitat but is also threatened by the invasion of the Barred Owl (Strix varia), which may compete with the Spotted Owl, prey on it, and will also hybridize with it, eventually obliterating its genetic identity.  This image, like that of the Burrowing Owl also in this online exhibit, was painted as a color plate for my book Owls of California and the West (2007, University of California Press), which discusses the conservation problems of this owl in detail."