They only lived east of the Great Plains until we started building cities and planting trees, as they need high, safe perches for nesting and sleeping. When humans created that for them, they expanded westward all the way to California and started competing with (and killing) other species of owl.

So, yes.

Scientists have a long seemingly treasured history of trolling everything with their naming of stuff. Not a scientist, so I can’t confirm. But from the outside it sure looks like they have a lot of fun with it.