What a fun exercise! I was surprised at the Sooty Owl, the Barn Owl, and the Short-eared Owl. Also the raccoon and the deer— I didn’t know they sounded like that! The only owl I’ve heard in our Seattle-area yard is the Barred Owl, so I recognized it. And the Steller’s Jay at the end of the exercise is a familiar sound in the neighborhood. :-)

The Sooty Owl sound is wild because it’s so different from the others. The Northern Saw-Whet is also unique and I wouldn’t have known that was a bird. I didn’t know white tail deer made a sound like that. And I was surprised that I recognized Boreal Owl sounds from movies. The quiz was fun to repeat a few times to see if I could remember them all!

I genuinely didn't know that white-tailed deer could make noise, much less that kind of noise, so that came as a big surprise.

None of them surprised me especially but my cats, George and Daphne, were highly alert during all of the owl sounds. I live in New York City and we almost never see or hear owls around here but we do hear a lot of other birds. My cats are used to hearing doves, pigeons, jays and crows. They certainly seemed to recognize the owl hoots, toots and screeches as bird sounds, even though they were unfamiliar.

We were most surprised by the sooty owl because it didn’t sound like a bird. Some of the mammals surprised us as well - the gray fox and the white tailed deer.  We didn’t know they made those sounds. My son (who is also completing this course with me) has heard a tawny bellied screech owl in Guyana. I heard an owl in Spain, that I am not sure I can identify.   It might have been a Eurasian Eagle owl.

I have found after listening to the selections that I have heard many of these sounds in my lifetime. The most surprising owl sound for me was the Western Screech Owl and the Eastern Screech Owl. I have RECENTLY heard the Barred Owl, and the Great Horned Owls. The nighttime sounds are intriguing because you cannot see what you are hearing.      

I think it was interesting is that there is so many different sounds that owls make to communicate with each other. On certain occasions, I have heard a great horned owl.

I often hear Great Horned Owls and Barn Owls here at home, but it's so interesting to hear the wide range of voices of the other owls.  To me, Barred Owls range in their calls between sounding a bit like crows..to every adult character in any Peanuts cartoon I watched as a child.  =:)

Well, it is amazing that owls literally speak to one another and communicate. What really surprising is that, when a pair of owls make their duet hoots and talk to each other...... My typical example from my location here in Africa, Ethiopia is the dueting of the African Wood Owl (Strix woodfordii).

So many surprises, the raccoons, white-tailed deer, and gray fox were really fascinating. You can definitely tell sounds coming from larger owls vis medium to smaller owls. I've been lucky enough to hear barred, e. screech, and great-horned plenty of times. I also heard shorties vocalizing during a recent encounter at dusk. I'd love to hear a saw-whet though.

White tail deer! I hear Great Horned Owls but now I realize I may be hearing other species, time to pay closer attention. This was an interesting presentation.

wow!!  that was a humbling exercise ! Amazing  diversit of sounds .

The Fox and the deer sounds were surprising to me.  We have lots of deer in our woods and I have never heard them make that sound. I have heard the Barred Owls caterwauling to each other before.  I was surprised by the Racoon calls.  I have heard the Barn Owls screaming at night before.  Also, the Great Horned Owl.

I found it interesting how many other animal or bird sounds could be mistaken for owl sounds. When I was a kid, I always thought dove sounds were owl like. It just shows how sound identification of a bird, especially owls, can be a challenge as you get started. Of the owl sounds, I think that of the Great Horned Owl is what I have heard in person in my area, where as for the Barn Owls I have heard them on nest live cams.

The fox! What does a fox say?! 🤣

Based on this, I have heard many creatures in the night which I had not expected. The particularly spooky call of the grey fox and deer were a surprise. I have heard Barred Owls, Great Horned Owls, and Burrowing Owls either in my area or back east. I will try to have Merlin on-hand for any future calls I hear in the night, which could possibly be Owls or other night-time birds.

I found them all very interesting and a little surprising. I guess the common gray fox may have been the most surprising. Is there a good place for non-bird animal sounds? I've heard a few that neither I nor Merlin have been able to identify and sometimes I wish I had a better knowledge of non-bird sounds. Nik

I was really surprised by the deer sounds!

let's just say there are no standard rules of thumb

This was fun and interesting. The thing that surprised me the most was the gray fox!

Does one owl species understand the sounds of another owl species? In other words, when a barn owl produces a sound stating "this is my territory," does a barred owl (or any other owl species) interpret the sound in that way?

This was so interesting. The little gray fox was absolutely wild to hear. When I first heard the noises Cougars made, I was similarly shocked. Nature is so wonderful. I’m not very musically gifted and it’s always very impressive when someone is able to identify birds and other animals by their sound. Well done!

Common Gray Fox (so scared)

The Mourning Dove definitely sounded owl-like to me. In my area, the calls of the Barred Owl and Eurasian Collared-Dove are often confused.  Both are relatively recent arrivals in the region.