Owls in California
Our list for California has 8 owls recorded regularly there: 5 residents, 1 summer visitor and 2 winter visitors
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in California in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 8, most common first
Great Horned OwlBubo virginianusResidentUncommon46–63 cmRecorded all year
Burrowing OwlAthene cuniculariaWinter visitorUncommon19–25 cmRecorded all year
Western Screech-owlMegascops kennicottiiResidentRare19–25 cmRecorded all year
Short-eared OwlAsio flammeusWinter visitorRare34–43 cmRegularly Oct–Jun
Northern Pygmy-owlGlaucidium gnomaResidentRare15–17 cmRecorded all year
Northern Saw-whet OwlAegolius acadicusResidentRare17–21 cmRecorded all year
Flammulated OwlPsiloscops flammeolusSummer visitorRare15–17 cmRegularly May–Aug
Barred OwlStrix variaResidentRare43–50 cmRecorded all year
Smallest to largest
Length, cmData: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made