The barred owl (Strix varia) has become a dominant competitor of the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina). Barred owls have caused demographic decline of the northern spotted owl and suppress northern spotted owl behavior, putting pressure on the northern spotted owl’s persistence as a species. A gradient of barred owl population level landscape utilization exists across California where some landscapes have not been colonized by barred owls and where the northern spotted owl is still present. This setting is opportune for investigating how northern spotted owls may be selecting resources for nesting given the varying presence of barred owls on the landscape. Using CDFW’s owl observation database, habitat selection models will be created in two study areas, one with a high barred owl utilization, and the other with a low barred owl utilization within the North Coast Ecoregion of California. We hypothesize that northern spotted owls will select different nesting habitat resources given the presence of barred owls. The result of this study aims to inform managers in modeling the nuances of northern spotted owl habitat selection and the capacity of the northern spotted owl to adapt to competition stress posed by the barred owl.

My name is Quinlan House. I am a grad student at Cal Poly Humboldt and received my bachelors of science in Wildlife Conservation and Management from Humboldt in 2024. I have worked surveying for northern spotted owl, and was fortunate to start grad work soon after and began researching northern spotted owl population connectivity and habitat selection. I love the natural word and want to work in stewarding our natural resources wisely and conserving the species we have been given. I enjoy reading, getting outside, hunting, fishing, and spending time at the Newman Center in Arcata, CA with my fiance.