Owls in Massachusetts
Our list for Massachusetts has 6 owls recorded regularly there: 1 resident and 5 winter visitors
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in Massachusetts in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 6, most common first
Great Horned OwlBubo virginianusWinter visitorUncommon46–63 cmRecorded all year
Snowy OwlBubo scandiacusWinter visitorUncommon52–71 cmRegularly Nov–Apr
Barred OwlStrix variaResidentUncommon43–50 cmRecorded all year
Eastern Screech-owlMegascops asioWinter visitorUncommon16–25 cmRecorded all year
Short-eared OwlAsio flammeusWinter visitorUncommon34–43 cmRegularly Nov–Apr
Northern Saw-whet OwlAegolius acadicusWinter visitorRare17–21 cmRegularly Sep–Apr
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Northern Saw-whet Owl 17–21 cm
- Eastern Screech-owl 16–25 cm
- Short-eared Owl 34–43 cm
- Barred Owl 43–50 cm
- Great Horned Owl 46–63 cm
- Snowy Owl 52–71 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: 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