WOODSTOCK – For the first time in more than 20 years, there’s an owl scarcity on the 20-acre wooded property of Bryant Pond naturalist Sara Wright.

Additionally, starved barred owls are being found dead in increasing numbers statewide due to last month’s heavy snowfall, lower rodent populations, and poor owl nesting results last spring, according to two Maine Audubon wildlife biologists.

“I’m really concerned because now is when I begin to hear them, since they’re moving into their mating season. I haven’t heard one owl call,” said Wright, who is also a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. “This is the only year that I have ever been here when there’s not been any barred owls.”

From the living room of her log cabin tucked in woods near a brook along a century-old game trail, Wright said she can watch owls hunting for food.

“Last winter, I saw at least one or two (barred owls) hunting every day, but something’s wrong. They’re not here this year … Unfortunately, I’ve got an incredibly healthy red squirrel population, which the owls kept down, so I’m very concerned,” Wright said.

She attributes the scarcity to strip logging of area hillsides and ridges where developers build homes.

But, according to Maine Audubon wildlife biologists Susan Gallo and Eric Hynes, barred owls aren’t coping well with the deep snow and lack of prey.

“The snow we had (in December) was great for us, but not good for owls,” Gallo said. “If we don’t have a lot of snow, we have a lot of owls.”

Owls, which have keen hearing, can detect rodents moving under snow and will try to capture them, which is why people occasionally find imprints of wings and claws atop snow.

Gallo said that all fall, people across Maine were reporting barred owls showing up in the daytime in their yards, especially downtown in cities like Portland. She said she believes people were seeing a surplus of owls.

“Barred owls are the only ones that people really noticed. They’re the most common in Maine … They’re predisposed to come out in the day anyway,” Gallo said.

Barred owls will eat insects, rodents, red squirrels, opossums and small birds. But when they’re starving, they’ll scavenge most anything.

“When they’re desperate, they will do weird things. I was sent pictures of a barred owl that tried to take one of (a person’s) ducks, which probably weighs more than the owl,” Hynes said.

Red-backed voles are the primary food of barred owls and when their population crashes, barred owls follow suit. When the food’s gone, owls will migrate to find more. Hynes said he believes that’s what is happening, with owls moving into southern Maine from northern Maine and Canada.

“We got all sorts of e-mails and phone calls about people seeing barred owls sitting on their back porches or feeding in their backyards. That is an indication that they’re food-stressed,” Hynes said.