The Pine Barrens is a beautiful ecological region in southern New Jersey, mainly of coniferous trees like Pitch Pines and Atlantic White Cedars–and is home to a diverse landscape of sandy soil and natural boglands. I have referenced the Pine Barrens many times in prior writings, because it is a region dense with ecological complexity and history. For me, the Pine Barrens, among many other great landscapes is my “Roman Empire”–I think of those woods and their mystique every few hours. Though recently I’ve been thinking particularly of the critters in these woods, of course there are the whitetail deer, toads, and foxes. I’ve been thinking of the owls most of all, because a good number of them are threatened or endangered in the Pine Barrens.
The owl at the forefront of my brain is the Barred owl, a larger owl with large plumage and black and white stripes. These fellas have a curiously beautiful demeanor, and a short rapid call that seems to roll through the air. While this owl is not federally threatened (this owl exists across the East Coast and northern states), it is close to endangered within N.J.–and has experienced rapid habitat loss in the past 100 years. These owls prefer to inhabit wetlands such as the Pine Barrens, nesting in Atlantic White Cedars away from human traffic and noise. With their preferences of habitat in mind(mature coniferous wetlands, secluded from humans ), one can see how their natural territories have been drastically reduced. The over development of these woods and logging efforts from the 1940s reduced their natural space through habitat fragmentation. Even before humans fractured these habitats, these owls were hunted as trophies because of their beautiful plumage and appearance. It did not help that these owls were also classified as a nuisance animal due to them preying on chickens, so for a long period of time these owls were not looked upon kindly. The care directed towards them and their habitat is reflected through the decline in their population through the years, where now only 32 pairs of these owls exist within southern New Jersey and the Pine Barrens.
It does not help that these Barred owls have to compete for territory with another large bird of prey: The Great Horned owl. You are likely more familiar with the latter rather than the formal, with its call being one of the most common owl hoots sampled in media: the “hoo hoo hoo”. The Great Horned owls are recognizable through their horns and plumage (bark-like shades of brown), or large eyebrows with accent their eyes–while similar in description they should not be confused with long eared owls. These owls are just as beautiful and important to the ecosystem as the Barred owls, the big difference lies in the population of both owls within the area of the Pine Barrens. While both owls are listed as least concern on federal scale, Great Horned owls are not regarded as endangered or threatened within New Jersey. Like these specific owls, there are other birds of prey living in the pine barrens which are classified differently in with concern. Some owls such as the Northern saw-whet are known to live within the Pine Barrens, but haven’t been documented enough to track whether they’re at a healthy population–they’re currently documented as undetermined. Many of these animals intersect in habitats and prey, and it goes to show that the status of the Barred Owl’s endangerment in the Pine Barrens is a complex situation with many underlying influences and factors.
The reasons for the Barred owl’s concerning status also apply to other species in the area and state. Deforestation and overdevelopment have drastically reduced the population and natural habitat for other owls too, like the Long-eared owl and Barn owl. The Long-eared owl is an interesting case, opposite to the Barred owl; it flourished for a time due to agricultural clearing around wood growth. Though its population sank into a sharp decline as these clearings changed from fields to buildings, and the already widespread and scattered population of these owls lowered over the years. These owls likely lived in the Pine Barrens in the past, due to their preferred habitats being coniferous trees and pinelands. Nowadays these owls are not documented to be stably inhabiting the Pine Barrens, but rather only migrating to these areas from winter to spring. It may be easy to confuse this species with the Great Horned owl due to the tufts of feathers on its head, although the biggest difference is the half moon eyes–which Long-eared owls have–as well as their white spotted plumage.
Barn owls are a similar case to these others, they are considered endangered across New Jersey for many of the same reasons. These white and orange owls prefer open fields, and are named after their pastoral relationship with farmers: where they would nest inside a barn or silo and hunt rodents attracted to the crops. While these owls are not necessarily living in the pinelands themselves, there are many agricultural fields connected to the Western Pinelands; by proxy, I would consider these owls a native resident in the Pine Barrens. With the rapid transition of farmland to warehouses or data centers, the already low population is in danger of losing more habitat.
While some of these cases may seem insignificant due to the federal listings of least concern, the biological diversity of local ecosystems is very important and should not be taken lightly. If we allow these owls to die out because their cousins in New York are doing better, then what will happen when the New York populations face similar problems. Protecting these animals and their land is something I am extremely passionate about. I only realized this situation while hiking through the woods, I found the feathers of a Barred Owl and remarked how pretty they were–which is when I learned how rare those feathers were. I’ve thought about the owls and their endangered kin, and how they’re important to these lands and its ecosystem. I wondered at the night’s expanse and remembered the last time I heard an owl’s call, and realized I maybe have only heard them twice in my whole life–and I am sure both times it was not a Barred owl. The world would seem wrong without the owls hooting at night, and without their presence rodent population (and by proxy spread of disease) would surge among the woods. These owls have existed alongside humanity for ages, and I passionately believe they should keep existing with us. While there is little we can do to directly help the resurgence of these owls, we can build owl boxes and place them accordingly, advocate for preservation causes, or volunteer for a pineland nonprofit. Despite everything, there is still some hope for the endangered animals moving forwards.
References
New Jersey’s Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern Species. Dep.nj.gov. (n.d.). https://dep.nj.gov/njfw/wildlife/endangered-threatened-and-special-concern-species/
Wikimedia Foundation. (2026, March 10). Barred owl. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_owl#StatusLong-eared%20owl.
Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ. (2024, October 11). https://conservewildlifenj.org/?species=asio-otus
Featured image by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash.
