The Cornell Lab Bird Academy › Discussion Groups › The Wonderful World of Owls › Is It An Owl?
-
I love the sound of the Barred owls talking to each other.
-
I did not know the sound of the deer.
-
I was most surprised by the bobcat scream. Wow! That was definitely creepy! As far as the owls were concerned, the ones that gave whistling calls fooled me every time. It's so incredible to see such diversity among owl vocalizations. What a creative Designer they had! I have heard Great Horned Owls and Barred Owls at night, but none of the others.
-
I've heard something that sounds like a turkey at night. Probably was.
-
Many animals make interesting bird-like sounds. I'd have to listen to this over and over again.
-
I have heard an owl that sounded just like the saw whet owl, but i do not live in its area! I have also heard some creepy sounding noises that sound like a human imitating a wolf howl, but we were in the middle of no where . I found the bobcat suprising!
-
The most surprising sound for me was the deer and the raccoon. I am still kind of in awe that owls make so many different sounds - in fact, it seems like the "who who" is actually not that common. And FWIW, I think the Barn Owl's screech is creepy - I would not want to hear THAT in the dark of night!
-
Yes i agree about the barn owl part. Very unsettling
-
There was a pair of barn owls that nested every year in the barn on the property I lived at. The first year I was there, one night when I walked into the barn, once their chicks had grown large enough to peer over the nest, they let out a very loud blood curdling hiss/rattle that sounded a lot like a rattlesnakes. Scared the heck out of me until I figured out where the sound was coming from. Every morning and every evening when I would go into the barn the parents would take off and swoop very close to me letting out that very eerie screech.
-
-
The gray fox and the deer
-
The bobcat, white-tailed deer, and common gray fox sounds all really surprised me. Especially the deer, I've seen them during daylight many times but never really heard them. I have heard several owls at night. Once in a while, I will hear a Great Horned Owl outside my house, with its hooting calls sounding very similar to those provided in the lesson. I have also heard an Eastern Screech Owl's drumming once or twice, but the Great Horned Owl I hear far more often.
-
One of the birds on my birdlist that i’ve been searching for for years is a Pel’s fishing owl. One night I was lying in my tent in KNP and I heared a sound. I was convinced it was a Pel’s but it seemed to be the sound of a Southern ground hornbill. Beter luck next time 🙃
-
The deer was the biggest surprise. I never gave a thought to what they sounded like. I am sure in the past I have thought I heard owls when hearing doves- hopefully I'll know better from now on. The fox was little creepy.
-
The common grey fox sounded like a human woman; the bobcat sounded human too.
-
We have a lot of foxes in the woods near our home. In the summertime, you can hear them "talking" to one another, and the human-like sound is definitely creepy.
-
Yes. We have some kind of bird that sounds just like a human imitating a wolf! It is unsettling. And no, we are nowhere near other humans.
-
-
The bushbaby totally sounded bird like. Also I'm surprised how many of the non-owl sounds were more typical North American mammals. I guess many people recognized just by sight and not sound.
-
I always thought, Dove sounds were Owls. The 'coo coo,' sounds like 'hoot hoot.' So I would think there were dozens of Owls in the forest. Now, after these courses, I can tell, that an Owl is not as prevalent, and sound more like -' hoo hoo hoo hohoho hoo.' Also, I never knew a Barn Owl sounded so Catlike. I would think, to hear that in a night time forest, it was a Panther. Scary. The Great Horned Owl sound makes sense to me, and so does the Screech Owl, because they are unique. But the Screech Owl almost sounds like a robot. So spaced and 'cartoon like.' All the Hooter Owl sounds ring a bell, and sound like classical Owl sounds, but just a little different, than the classic, 'hoot hoot.' I like to hear the ones that mixes a trill and a hoot. Owly and unique.
-
The Poorwill as I kept thinking it was an Owl!!
-
Some sounds were very surprising to us, like the common fox and the white-tailed deer. We hear the great horned owls at night in our canyon very frequently, and we see them as well.
-
Some of the sounds were new to me. I have heard Barred Owl, Screech Owl and Great Horned Owls and while living in Merced California, heard a Bobcat family, its amazing how many sounds we can hear at night if we live away from the cities.
-
On many of the owl sounds at night and in other videos, I get an error message so couldn't hear the sounds.
-
The call that kept catching me off guard was that Poorwill. other than that I've been able to tell the difference between calls of mammals vs owls. I have hands on experience with a screech owl and can pick that one out She made an array of noises depending on her current mood and/ or what she was trying to convey. Actually a pretty clever bird. I also have been monitoring 3 Barred owls over the last year and a 1/2. Also an awesome and interesting bird.
-
I have listened to this series only one time, and guessed many of them wrong. Most surprising to me was Sooty Owl.
-
An interesting exercise, I replayed several times...a lot of activity at night. The barn owl screech reminded me of a four footed animal cry. The fox was creepy.
-
This was a very informative exercise. I even suspected you had recorded the Jersey Devil (lol).
-
I had no idea how varied owl sounds are! My favorite is the barn owl. I think it sounds like a spray can of whipping cream.
-
The fox and bobcat sounds were certainly surprising - and creepy! I want to set my alarm clock to the northern saw-whet owl's call, I love it. I've never heard an owl in person but after following the barred owl nest cam last season I'd recognize their sounds anywhere.
-
Both me and my mom have heard the barred owl courtship, It truly is amazing!! They sound just like monkeys, and the sound is so crazy and loud it even made our dog stop and listen. The mottled wood owl sound is very cool, and I would die if I heard the bobcat or the fox at night.
Read More: