There has been at least one Barn Owl in Magnuson Park (northeast Seattle)
since late spring/early summer. I walk there every morning, and saw it
frequently in early June. It "reappeared" on the mornings of July 5 and
July 6 (because firecrackers on the previous nights prevented good hunting
and forced it out into the early AM hours?). I haven't seen it since, but
maybe it's only hunting at night. The owl you saw in Ravenna could easily
be the same owl (or one of the owls if there is a breeding pair) from
Magnuson.

There's a confirmed Barn Owl breeding record for the 1987-1996 period from
the Magnuson quad, probably from Magnuson Park, the Naval base, or NOAA.

Kelly Cassidy
Seattle

On Thu, 23 Jul 1998, M. Donahue wrote:

> The other night (July 21) I saw a barn owl flying over my home the
> Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle.
>
> I've seen them a couple of times in Seattle over the years. I know they
> breed at Marymoor Park and in other open spaces just east of Seattle, but
> I'm curious if any tweeters have seen barn owls in the summer within the
> city limits of Seattle. Where might they breed in the city? I've heard
> rumors of them breeding in husky stadium, but I'm wondering if anyone
> knows of any evidence of that, or if that is just speculation.