Owls of Texas with Shelia Hargis

Owls are a special group of birds. You don’t have to be a birder or bird watcher to find them fascinating. Texas has a great assortment of owls, with nine species reliably found in Texas, another four species possibly found in Texas with a little luck, and a few more species that are considered casual or accidental. The diversity of these species is incredible from those that are most active during the night to those that are active during the day; from those that hunt mainly by sound to those that hunt by sight; from those that are adapted to urban/suburban environments to those that are only found in remote areas; from those that take over other birds’ nests to those that nest in burrows; and the list goes on and on. In this class you will learn about some of the unique adaptations owls have developed to live their lives. You will also learn about the owl species that are expected in Texas including identification tips, their distribution, some natural history to better understand how each species lives their lives, and conservation status of each species. After the class, you will have a better understanding and appreciation of these cool birds and will have a sense of where you can go to hear and maybe see them.

The class will be taught virtually with three classroom sessions via Zoom. Each session will be two hours long. Class dates are October 14, 21 and 28 from 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM (Central Time). The class fee is $120, part of which goes to the instructor and part of which goes to TOS. REGISTER NOW!

Shelia Hargis is the instructor for this class. She has been birding for nearly 30 years. Birds became a passion (obsession) for Shelia early on, and she is totally fine with that! Within the last few years, she has become very interested in watching and studying bird behavior to better understand how birds live their lives. She spends a great deal of her days conducting bird surveys for the City of Austin, the North American Breeding Bird Survey, and Texas Parks & Wildlife; participating in numerous Christmas Bird Counts each year; teaching classes about birds; giving presentations on a variety of bird topics; and leading field trips. She is Past President of both Texas Ornithological Society and Travis Audubon and is very active with both of those organizations. She is also a Capital Area Master Naturalist, Class of 2022.