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Species	Habitat	Diet	Nest	Eggs	Ears	Hunting Technique	General Information
Barn Owl	farmland, open fields	restricted, mostly rodents	cavity nester	5-7 white, asynchronous	large and unequal openings	nocturnal, trangulates by sound	declining -- loss of habitat, won't migrate, world-wide distribution
Eastern Screech Owl	open woodlands parks and towns	insects, rodents and birds, generalist	cavity nester	4-5 white, synchronous hatching	small and equal openings	swoops (glides down and snatches up prey from the ground in its talons)	year-round resident, numbers declining, loss of nest sites -- will use nest boxes. Two colors!
Great Horned Owl	edges of forest and meadows	generalist predator -- eats anything!	old hawk nests	2-3 dull white, asynchronous	small and equal openings	nocturnal, also dawn and dusk, swoops	year-round resident, cache winter prey and defrosts by "incubating"
Long-eared Owl	coniferous forest near meadows	mostly rodents, few insects	old crow, squirrel or hawk nests	4-5 white, asynchronous	large and unequal openings	strictly nocturnal over open areas, low patrol	communal roosts and sometimes nests in loose colonies
Short-eared Owl	meadows and marshes	mostly rodents, few insects	ground, grass covered	4-7 white, asynchronous	large and unequal openings	at dawn and dusk, cruising flights over meadows	nomadic migrations to high rodent populations, nests loose in colonies
Northern Saw-whet Owl	dense coniferous forest or swamp	mainly rodents, some insects	cavity nester	5-6 white, asynchronous	large and unequal openings	swoops (glides down and snatches up prey from the ground in its talons)	migrates below snow belt during winter, our smallest owl, active at dusk and before dawn
Barred Owl	densely wooded swamps and streams	mice and some small mammals	cavity nester usually	2-3 white	large and unequal openings	very nocturnal, low patrol, hovers and pounces	year-round resident, "Who cooks for you?" call
Snowy Owl	mostly flat tundra, dwarf shrubs and grasses	lemmings, voles and waterfowl	ground nest, usually unlined	5-8 white or cream-colored, asynchronous hatching	small and equal openings	mostly at dawn and dusk, hunts from elevated spot, then swoops	sometimes winters in New York State, migrations follow lemming four-year population cycle

Ears:
unequal = asymmetrical ear openings
equal = symmetrical ear openings

asynchronous = asynchronously, young hatch over an extended period of several days.