Wheeler Wildlife Refuge Association - WWRA

The Barred Owl is our Wildlife of the Week. This is a large, stocky woodland owl named for the horizontal brown and white striping ("barring") across its chest and vertical streaks along its belly. Unlike most eastern North American owls, which have yellow eyes, the Barred Owl is easily distinguished by its large, deep brown eyes.

Barred Owls prefer dense, mature forests near water, including bottomland hardwoods, swamps, and forested wetlands. They rely on large, old trees with thick canopies for roosting and natural hollows for nesting.

Highly opportunistic hunters, their diet consists primarily of small mammals (voles, mice, squirrels, and rabbits), as well as frogs, snakes, crayfish, fish, and smaller birds. They often perch quietly on low branches before swooping down on prey.

They form monogamous pairs that often mate for life and maintain the same territory year after year. Nesting typically begins in late winter (February through April). Because they do not build their own nests, they rely on existing tree cavities—often hollows carved out by Pileated Woodpeckers—or re-use abandoned hawk, crow, or squirrel nests. Females typically lay 2 to 3 eggs and incubate them for about 30 days while the male supplies food.

Barred Owls are year-round residents on the refuge. The refuge's 35,000 acres along the Tennessee River—specifically its extensive bottomland hardwood forests, swampy sloughs, and tributaries like Flint Creek—provide ideal hunting and nesting habitat.

One of the best places to spot or hear them on Wheeler is in Dancy Bottoms or near Blackwell Swamp, where mature hardwoods meet water features. Because they are semi-diurnal, visitors frequently spot them perched silently during early morning or late afternoon hikes. If you're lucky enough to spot an owl in daylight, odds are it is a Barred Owl.

Fun Fact: The Barred Owl's signature call sounds remarkably like a rhythmic human sentence: "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?" During pair bonding or territorial disputes, they can also break into loud "duets" consisting of squawks, cackles, and hooting that sound like maniacal laughter.

The Barred Owl in the photos was spotted near Arrowhead Landing (Photos by Tom Ress)

It’s time for this year’s Alabama Bird Search - Youth Challenge. This is a fun game you can share with friends, families, guests to your organization, teachers, and anyone who might be interested or have kids interested in birding. Check out the information below and a QR code to scan to reach Alabama Audubon's website for the competition.

Owl Awareness Day at the refuge was a huge success! A crowd of almost 200 excited and happy young people and parents enjoyed an owl talk and got to make a paper owl to take home.

The Field Sparrow is our Wildlife of the Week. A relatively slender, long-tailed sparrow measuring roughly 5 to 6 inches, it is best identified by its bright pink bill, a distinct white eye-ring giving it a wide-eyed appearance, a rusty cap and eye-line, and an unstreaked, warm buffy-grey chest and belly.

Male Field Sparrows can be heard singing their "bouncing ball" song from exposed perches along field edges, brushy d**e trails, and forest edges. While present year-round on the refuge, they become much more noticeable from October through March as northern populations migrate south to join local birds. During these colder months, they form loose winter foraging flocks alongside Chipping, Song, and White-throated Sparrows in the refuge’s agricultural field borders, wetland impoundments, and near the feeding stations behind the Visitor Center.

Their diet changes based on seasons. In spring and summer it consists primarily of insects including spiders, grasshoppers, caterpillars and beetles, which provide vital protein for rearing nestlings. In fall and winter it shifts heavily to seeds of wild grasses and weeds, such as foxtail, ragweed, and smartweed.

Field Sparrows favor open, overgrown habitats in early stages of succession rather than mature forest or manicured lawns. Look for them in overgrown pastures, old agricultural fields, brushy fence lines, forest clearings and utility right-of-ways..

They construct open-cup nests made of grasses, rootlets, and fine plant fibers, built exclusively by the female. Nests built early in spring are usually on or near the ground, concealed in clumped grasses; later-season nests are often placed higher up in small shrubs or saplings as foliage thickens. They typically lay 3 to 5 light green/white eggs, incubated for about 10–12 days. They frequently raise 2 to 3 broods per breeding season.

Fun Fact: The Field Sparrow's song sounds remarkably like a bouncing Ping-Pong ball dropped onto a table—starting with clear, deliberate whistle notes that steadily accelerate into a rapid trill.

(Photos by Tom Ress)

Join us from 10:00-11:00 on Tuesday, August 4 at the refuge visitor center for a brief presentation about the owls of Alabama and then make your own owl to take home!

Calling all families! Join us on Tuesday, August 4 at 10:00 AM at the Wheeler NWR Visitor Center to celebrate International Owl Awareness Day! We'll learn a little about the owls that call Alabama home and do some crafting to build your own owl to take home!

Few animals suffer as much from a branding problem as our Wildlife of the Week, the Hispid Cotton Rat.

Because the word "rat" is tacked onto the end of its common name, it is immediately lumped in the public imagination with urban pests like the Norway rat or the roof rat. In reality, this native rodent has very little in common with its infamous cousins aside from a long tail. Perhaps if they were named Cotton Vole or Cotton Hamster they would not suffer from this stigma.

The hispid cotton rat is a rodent found across much of the southern United States. In Alabama, it is a common species found statewide, easily identified by its "grizzled" appearance—a mix of buff, gray, and black fur that gives it a coarse, rough texture. That fur gives it part of its name--the word hispidus is Latin for "rough" or "bristly" and refers to the stiff, coarse hairs that make up the rat's coat.

Cotton rats thrive in areas with dense ground cover that protects them from predators. They are frequently found in grassy fields, overgrown roadsides, fencerows, and marshlands. Within these habitats, they create intricate systems of well-defined runways that radiate from their nests.

While they are primarily herbivores—consuming stems, leaves, roots, and seeds—they are opportunistic feeders. Their diet often includes grasses, sedges, fruits, berries, and agricultural crops like peanuts and sweet potatoes as well as insects, carrion, and occasionally the eggs of ground-nesting birds.

The hispid cotton rat is famously prolific, breeding throughout the year with population numbers that can fluctuate wildly. Females can begin breeding as early as eight weeks old and produce several litters annually. Gestation takes approximately 27 days and typical litter size is 5 to 7 young, though it can range from 1 to 15. Young are weaned remarkably fast, often within 10 to 15 days of birth. The average lifespan of a cotton rat in the wild is only six months due to heavy predation by snakes, hawks, and owls.

The hispid cotton rat is common on the refuge. The refuge’s mix of 35,000 acres of bottomland hardwoods, uplands, and agricultural fields provides the ideal dense cover and food sources these rodents require.

Fun Fact: They were originally named cotton rats because they were first discovered and found to live near southern cotton plantations in the 1800s.

(Photos by Tom Ress)