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?
My wife and I along with two friends were visiting the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Preserve near Lawton, OK, several years ago. The WMWP is a beautiful area of open prairie, old mountains, buffalo, prairie dogs (and burrowing owls, of course) and longhorn cattle. While driving about 30 mph along a straight section of road in the Preserve, we noticed that a large owl (species unknown) was flying and keeping pace with us as we moved along. It was as if he was racing us. This went on for a mile or so. It was a beautiful day and a nice memory!