Short answer: yes, but mostly if the owl is large. Great horned owls take tree squirrels and flying squirrels regularly enough that wildlife biologists find them in nest studies across the US. Smaller cavity-nesting owls — screech owls, saw-whet owls — rarely bother squirrels at all; they're built for mice, voles, and large insects, not something close to their own body weight. Squirrels aren't only prey, either. Flip the question around and owls have their own predators: bigger owls, hawks, eagles, and raccoons that raid nests for eggs and young. Once you see both sides of that food chain, one practical rule becomes obvious for anyone hosting wildlife in the same yard: site owl and squirrel habitats well apart.
Do Owls Eat Squirrels?
Great horned owls are the squirrel hunters of the owl world. They're powerful enough to take adult gray squirrels, red squirrels, and flying squirrels, and squirrel remains turn up consistently in studies of their diet. Barred owls and other mid-to-large species take squirrels too, though less often than great horned owls do.
Smaller owls tell a different story. Screech owls and saw-whet owls hunt prey closer to their own size — mice, voles, shrews, and large insects like beetles and moths. A full-grown tree squirrel is simply too much animal for a bird that size to tackle. If you're hosting a screech owl habitat, squirrel predation isn't a realistic concern either way.
Which Owls Actually Hunt Squirrels — and Which Don't
Owl size and hunting style decide the outcome more than appetite does:
- Great horned owls — the primary squirrel predator among North American owls; strong enough to take adult tree and flying squirrels.
- Barred owls — will take squirrels opportunistically, especially in forested and suburban edge habitat.
- Screech owls and saw-whet owls — hunt mice, voles, and insects; squirrels are outside their prey range.
Why Tree Squirrels and Owls Usually Coexist in the Same Yard
Timing does most of the work here. Owls hunt primarily at dusk, at night, and around dawn. Tree squirrels — the gray and red squirrels you see darting across lawns and up trunks — are diurnal. They're active during the day and asleep in a den or nest by the time owls start hunting. That mismatch in schedules is a big part of why you can host both a squirrel habitat and an owl habitat in the same general area without one wiping out the other.
Flying squirrels break that pattern. They're nocturnal, gliding between trees after dark, which puts them on the move during exactly the hours owls are hunting. That's why flying squirrels appear far more often than tree squirrels in owl diet studies — not because owls prefer them, but because they're simply out and exposed at the same time the owls are.
What Eats Owls?
Owls aren't at the top of the food chain everywhere they live. Adult owls face real predation risk from larger raptors, and eggs and young owls face an even bigger one from nest predators.
- Great horned owls prey on smaller owl species, including screech owls and saw-whet owls.
- Hawks and eagles will take owls, particularly smaller or younger individuals caught in daylight.
- Raccoons raid owl nests for eggs and nestlings, and are among the most common nest predators in North America.
- Other tree-climbing predators — including snakes in warmer climates — target eggs and young in the nest.
Nest predation, not adult predation, is the biggest risk most owls face. An adult great horned owl has few predators; a clutch of eggs or a nest of young owls has several.
Who Eats Whom: The Full Picture
- Great horned owls eat tree squirrels, flying squirrels, rabbits, and smaller owls.
- Screech owls and saw-whet owls eat mice, voles, and large insects — not squirrels.
- Flying squirrels are eaten by owls more often than tree squirrels, because they're active at night.
- Tree squirrels mostly avoid owl predation by being active during the day, when owls are resting.
- Owls are eaten by larger owls, hawks, and eagles.
- Owl eggs and nestlings are taken by raccoons and other nest predators — the single biggest threat most owls face.
Hosting Both? Keep Owl and Squirrel Habitats Well Apart
If you're setting up habitats for both species in the same yard, distance and sightlines matter. Place an owl habitat and a squirrel habitat at least 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 m) apart, and give the placement more room than that where you can. Beyond the minimum distance, try to keep the two habitats out of direct line of sight from each other — a fence line, a shed, or a stand of trees between them works well.
The goal isn't to stop an owl from ever noticing a squirrel in the yard; that's going to happen regardless. It's to avoid setting up a squirrel habitat as a next-door target directly under an active owl's flight path, and to avoid mounting an owl habitat where every entrance and exit is in full view of where squirrels are denning and raising young. Distance and visual separation lower the odds of a habitat becoming a hunting perch for the other species' predator.
Height and orientation help too. Most guidance for both owl and squirrel entrances points them away from each other's habitat, not toward it — the same principle behind why owl and bat habitats shouldn't be mixed either. A nocturnal predator and its potential prey simply don't belong stacked close together, whatever species is involved.
Building for Both Sides of the Food Chain
If you're planning a squirrel habitat, start with the types of squirrels guide to match the design to the species actually visiting your yard, then check the squirrel house guide for placement details. For the owl side, our piece on owl nesting habitats as safe havens for nighttime raptors covers entrance sizing and mounting height by species.
A well-placed owl habitat, sited with enough distance from anything you're hosting for squirrels, gives a resident owl a stable place to raise young without turning your yard into a conflict zone between the two guests you're trying to support.
