Nature

It seems like it must be Owl mating season.....

Somewhere in the wee hours last night I was awakened by the loud hooting of what must have been a male owl calling for a mate. I had my bedroom windows open upstairs due to the temps and sound does carry at night when things are still. Yet it seemed like the Owl was likely within a block or so of me, so loud it was.

So I just lay there and listened to him calling his mating cry every minute or so. "Whoo Whoo Whoo Whoo Whoo". This went on for some time, and eventually another male started this same routine, but he seemed to be much further away due to the volume. Looked like he was challenging the first place contender!

So a little while later, a hen answers the first guy. A very distinctive call, higher in pitch but ended up squawking somewhat like a chicken.

The first male answered and they went to vocalising back and forth for a while, with sort of like a minute or two between calls. The other male further away did answer from time to time as well.

By now I'd been awake for the better part of an hour listening to this, so just got up and closed the window so I could get some sleep. While this was pretty cool to listen to, I had to be practical as well. The hooting pretty much stopped after that. I figure the first male and the hen probably got together after that.

I related this story to my brewery GM today, as he lives nearby. He told me that he has had several instances of mating calls, and has had some success with imitating the male call. He went on to tell me that in one instance he had a male Owl swoop down over his head while doing this, and he figured the wingspan was 4 or 5 feet! He told me the breed but don't remember it just now, but it's not a Great Horned Owl or a Spotted Owl.

Ain't nature great?





Cheers,

RR

Great story, thanks for sharing Rande! We have our fair share of owls around here as well, mostly Barred Owls. Could it have been a Barred? They have a distinct call that I've always had explained as it sounds like "who cooks...who cooks for you". Stunning and beautiful creatures though!

Edit:

Here we go:

That clip sounded similar Chris. I'll ask my GM again what breed he thinks it is. Thanks for posting.

Owls are pretty cool creatures.



Cheers,

RR

We have Owls around here during a special time of year, or at least that's when I hear them. Unlike yours ours just let out a "Who, Who! It's a welcome sound to my ears at anytime because I've got some dang kids for neighbors now that make noise at all hours of the night including there 6 POS mutt dogs that they haven't a clue how to train or take care of so, I have to have my windows closed at night if I wish to get any sleep.
Consider yourself lucky to be woken by true nature of the woods BD instead of some half breed mutts and kids barking at each others farts every few minutes. Ah Lord! I feel better now, thanks for listen'en BD.

Yes, the sounds of nature are awesome! Nice you had a chance to listen to a bit of an owl opera. Wonderful stuff............

Owls are lovely creatures, vicious predators that look like toasted marshmallows; a flying pillow stuffed with death and hate.

Our area is barn owl central. At night there's a lot of screeching and "kleaking."

The kleaking occurs as they fly over head looking for prey. Awesome creatures with serious stealth.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barn_Owl/sounds

The original stealth fighters!

Just some more owl facts for the thread

I have been fortunate to observe a number of great horned owls during my past archery deer seasons. Amazing! Those downy feathers they have helps them to be silent. Very eerie to see something with the wingspan of a desk slowly floating though the woods. One season I got to see a half dozen nearly every morning. The nestling’s still roosted together.

Was serenaded again last night. Started right around 2 AM and went on for some time, an hr or so.

First was the male, calling every 60 seconds or so. Sounded like he was a ways away but could hear him clearly.

After 20 min or something another male starts answering him back although much further off. The hooting tone and sequence was almost identical.

So now the 1st male starts calling back more frequently, and the other one responds. This goes on for another period when a female starts squawking in a very different and distinct voice. So the three of them start having this conversation.

Sounded like the female was nearer me, and the 1st male answered her back immediately after she squawked. It also sounded like the 1st male flew closer to the female since his volume increased.

So this went on for some little while, and I swear I also could hear coyotes howling at the moon up on the ridge far away!

I'm a light sleeper so all this filtered in my bedroom window which was only cracked for fresh air, but I'd have heard it even with the window shut.

Guess I thought mating season was over for the year, so maybe they had something else going on like territory or something. Pretty cool, even though I lost an hr of sleep.




Cheers,

RR

Forgot to add that shortly after the OP I was coming into work early just as I normally do. Got to a place in my 'hood where there's a "Y" and the headlights suddenly picked up a very large Owl right on the side of the road about 10' from where I was driving.

Soon as the lights hit him he took off and flew directly in front of my hood. Couldn't have missed him by more than a couple feet! Those big birds don't really fly too fast I guess. Scared the crap outta me!

I'd estimate his height at about 2', and the wingspan must have been as long as my outstretched arms, say 5' or so. That was a helluve big bird, and I wouldn't liked to hit him with the car. Beautiful bird, even though I only saw him for literally a few seconds!

He must have just scored a kill on the roadside, but don't remember seeing anything. Prolly got away after that.


Cheers,

RR

Love all these owl stories. My wife and I observed a Great Horned Owl within a few hours of our wedding and considered it a good omen. She has been collecting owl figurines for 44 years and has some really impressive pieces. We have to keep our windows closed at night so sadly we never hear any owls unless they very near the house.

AJ

My wife is an owl nut.. going so far as having an owl tattoo. I quit counting the various owl whatnots, paintings, bowls, ashtrays, towels, etc.

puros_bran wrote:

My wife is an owl nut.. going so far as having an owl tattoo. I quit counting the various owl whatnots, paintings, bowls, ashtrays, towels, etc.  

I totally understand! Everywhere I look.

AJ

We have little burrowing owls around here. Adorable little buggers they are too. I don't get to see them often as you have to be taking the back roads to find them. It's a great way to kill a few hours in the early evening though.

Jim

It's funny this should crop up again Rande.

We were staying with friends over the weekend who live less than a mile away from Stone Henge. Very pretty area it is too.

Anyway, in the early hours of the morning my young son ends up in our room and climbs into bed next to me. As I lay there wondering what spooked him the answer was heard through the bedroom window; a loud screech followed by the classic 'terrwit terrwoo' of the UK's tawny owl. Late summer / early autumn is the most active time of year for these little fellows.

We chatted about it in the morning and now he's looking forward to hearing his next one!

Glad you missed the one with your car though Rande!

We have several owls that live on our property including at least two screech owls. Man, I love listening to their calls. Raises the hair on the back of your neck it's so beautifully eerie.

Thankfully these don't hoot. We have bowls, shades, stuffed animals, and tattoos. Lol
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Owl hooting again much in evidence lately. Not quite like earlier this year though. Guess I thought mating season was over!

Pretty cool to hear them in any event!



Cheers,

RR

Lots of male hooting and female answering last night, just after I went to bed. Wonder what's going on?





Cheers,

RR