Sunday, February 7, 2021

These hooters have surprisingly big vocabularies. see the National Audubon Society for actual owl recordings

Today is Superb Owl Sunday 

While the rest of the nation eagerly
 anticipates the big game,
Audubon sees  today a little differently.
 By moving just one letter, today
 becomes
 Superb Owl Sunday
,our favorite unofficial bird holiday.
 

Whether barred, snowy, or screech,
 owls are some
of the most fascinating birds around.
Big yellow eyes,razor-sharp beak
 and talons,
 and incredible camouflage skills.
 In fact, their ability to hide
 is so great that most birders
 rely on their signature call to
 identify who’s whooo.

Kick off your game day with this handy guide
 to 5 North American owl species and their
most common calls. 




Burrowing Owl

If you live along the southern border of the United States or in Mexico, you get to hang out with the charming Burrowing Owl all year long! Listen for a simple coo-coooocoo-coooo, with a gentle little wheeze at the end: That's the species' main call. Sometimes the owls will rely on sound as a defense, mimicking rattlesnakes to keep encroaching predators away from their precious burrows.




Barn Owl





Though the Barn Owl may look elegant, its voice is anything but. It mainly relies on a set of high-pitched screams to communicate—either a k-r-r-r-r-ick to advertise itself to other members of its species, or a longer, more forceful shriek to signal distress or a warning. You can hear their calls almost anywhere in the Lower 48 (with the exception of a few northern states), as well as five other continents.



Great Horned Owl

This tufted, yellow-eyed fellow is the owl world's version of Barry White. Its gravelly hoots carry far, and sound almost like a muffled foghorn from a distance. When pairs chant together the female goes first, followed closely by the male. The second and third hoots in their series tend to be the shortest. Great Horned Owls can be found all over the continental United States, Alaska, and most of Canada.








Eastern Screech-Owl

When you think of an Eastern Screech-Owl, think of a horse on helium: The little raptor lets out a descending whinny, capped off with a trill. (Males usually call at a lower pitch than females.) In general, the bird is a master of vibrato; it uses a monotonic and soothing trill to converse with its kin, too. The screech-owls out West, meanwhile, have a call that sounds more like an errant bouncy ball.





Barred Owl




Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you?"

No, that isn't your mother yelling at you through the woods: It's a beautiful Barred Owl, just begging for some well-deserved appreciation. This call is often used among the species, and consists of two rhythmic phrases, with the last syllable drawn out the longest. Barred Owls are found in the eastern half of the United States, along with some parts of the Pacific Northwest and Canada.