coffee2go Posted August 19, 2015 Posted August 19, 2015 Cornell is also a good source of owl sounds if you are questioning whether something you are hearing is an owl. They sent me a file of a number of species of owls that was very helpful in identifying odd sounds from a Barred Owl.
BigTreeWalker Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 In the PNW the barred owl is an invasive species. Less than 10 years ago I had never seen, let alone heard a barred owl. Now I have a pair nesting in the woods around my house. I have never heard any bird with such a repertoire of screeches, whistles, hoots, knocking, and tree thrashing that I have seen and heard them do. As I said I had never heard them until recently, but now they are around my property in north central Washington and in the Gifford Pinchot NF in SW Washington. Plus where I live in SW Washington. I can see why people think BF when they hear them.
Guest Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 (edited) I wouldn't be so concerned about the meaning of a vocalization, though I'd still want to know, but to simply know that it's them when I hear it. Knowing their calls means you can find them and make contact if they are willing. The long distance calls would make sense as a way to simply make contact with their own kind. I'm sure they get spread out over large areas amd the cooler night air carries them well. Some consistency in these calls must exist or they wouldn't know when they call each other. It's that simple. I hate to disagree with you, but I think it is important to try and understand the meaning of their vocalizations. I have heard 3 in my life. The first was a big Ohio scream that I interpreted as I am the big man of this forest, bring it! The second was a series of knocks at 3 AM that clearly was a warning to go back to bed and not to screw up their hunt (OK, so this was not exactly a vacalizion). The last was a most terrifying scream at close range that can only be interpreted as a warning to stop and go away you are going close to something important. I believe failure to understand the meaning of what they are trying to convey to us can be very detrimental to your health. I agree NCBFr … There are kill screams such as the case when the predator takes down game and there can also be the “Who are you or where are you?†scream. Then there may be as you say a warning call or scream but in most cases it seems these screams are accompanied by other analogous events or observations. Edited August 20, 2015 by Gumshoeye
coffee2go Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 (edited) I agree with the idea of keeping a sample of all known animal calls for the area you are investigating or to play for someone who claims they are hearing bf at night. Where I do my audio recordings, in an extreme northern county of MN about 20 miles from the Canadian border, there are two types of fox, bobcats, linx, wolves, coyotes, fishers, black bear, moose and an occasional mountain lion. I have been able to eliminate many strange vocalizations on my recordings based on my research on the different calls these animals make. The fisher cats are especially interesting and I have seen them several times around and on our property. Wolves are heard every night. I have also found a number of YouTube videos that contain audio only, where peope are claiming some of these calls are an unknown animal or a possible bf. The fisher and fox calls seem to be the most common misidentified vocalizations. Edited August 20, 2015 by coffee2go
Bodhi Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 I've posted this several times before, but it's been at least six months so I will do it again. Have a listen and see if this sounds like anything you've heard the neighbor dog produce. If you don't want to listen to the whole thing, please scroll down to the section marked "8:30 to 12 minutes" and make sure you listen until the end. http://sasquatchresearchers.org/march-2012-minnesota-howls/ Those are wolves. Yes, yes they are. Super cool sound though. Has my animals pretty freaked out.
southernyahoo Posted August 23, 2015 Posted August 23, 2015 I wouldn't be so concerned about the meaning of a vocalization, though I'd still want to know, but to simply know that it's them when I hear it. Knowing their calls means you can find them and make contact if they are willing. The long distance calls would make sense as a way to simply make contact with their own kind. I'm sure they get spread out over large areas amd the cooler night air carries them well. Some consistency in these calls must exist or they wouldn't know when they call each other. It's that simple. I hate to disagree with you, but I think it is important to try and understand the meaning of their vocalizations. I have heard 3 in my life. The first was a big Ohio scream that I interpreted as I am the big man of this forest, bring it! The second was a series of knocks at 3 AM that clearly was a warning to go back to bed and not to screw up their hunt (OK, so this was not exactly a vacalizion). The last was a most terrifying scream at close range that can only be interpreted as a warning to stop and go away you are going close to something important. I believe failure to understand the meaning of what they are trying to convey to us can be very detrimental to your health. I agree NCBFr … There are kill screams such as the case when the predator takes down game and there can also be the “Who are you or where are you?†scream. Then there may be as you say a warning call or scream but in most cases it seems these screams are accompanied by other analogous events or observations. I might have an example or two of the "who are you" screams, but very much like a Barred owl at a high pitch. The vowel sounds tend to lose their perceptual salience when there isn't at least two formants below 2k hz.
bipedalist Posted August 23, 2015 BFF Patron Posted August 23, 2015 In the PNW the barred owl is an invasive species. Less than 10 years ago I had never seen, let alone heard a barred owl. Now I have a pair nesting in the woods around my house. I have never heard any bird with such a repertoire of screeches, whistles, hoots, knocking, and tree thrashing that I have seen and heard them do. As I said I had never heard them until recently, but now they are around my property in north central Washington and in the Gifford Pinchot NF in SW Washington. Plus where I live in SW Washington. I can see why people think BF when they hear them. Have you heard them cackle and sound like an ape on steroids yet? Hahahaha......my first exposure to that type of call was in White Oak Canyon of Shenandoah National Park when I was still a teenager....... sounded like a serial killer on the loose outside the tent.......
BigTreeWalker Posted August 23, 2015 Posted August 23, 2015 So was it an owl or an ape on steroids? When I first heard the owls, I listened to every recording I could find online. But they were definitely lacking in all the different noises I was hearing. Over in Okanogan County we kept hearing what I would swear was a cat meowing and running around up in the trees. I finally got a look at what it was after a couple nights of wondering. It was a young Long-Eared Owl. One of its parents is my avatar. I felt sorry for the owlettes parents. It didn't fly yet but it could sure get around in the trees. They would have had to find it each time to feed it. Hence all the meowing noises. I had a hard time finding those noises online.
Woodslore Posted August 25, 2015 Author Posted August 25, 2015 Good thread Woodslore! Thank you Gumshoeye
CMBigfoot Posted August 25, 2015 Posted August 25, 2015 In the PNW the barred owl is an invasive species. Less than 10 years ago I had never seen, let alone heard a barred owl. Now I have a pair nesting in the woods around my house. I have never heard any bird with such a repertoire of screeches, whistles, hoots, knocking, and tree thrashing that I have seen and heard them do. As I said I had never heard them until recently, but now they are around my property in north central Washington and in the Gifford Pinchot NF in SW Washington. Plus where I live in SW Washington. I can see why people think BF when they hear them. Have you heard them cackle and sound like an ape on steroids yet? Hahahaha......my first exposure to that type of call was in White Oak Canyon of Shenandoah National Park when I was still a teenager....... sounded like a serial killer on the loose outside the tent....... I've always liked the caterwauling of barred owls on a calm, dark night in the forest. Especially when I'm with someone that has never heard it before. Their reaction is priceless. They always swear it's an ape making those sounds. 1
coffee2go Posted August 25, 2015 Posted August 25, 2015 This is a sample of some of the audio I have captured of them near our cabin. If I hadn't heard the hooting before the other sounds my first thought would not have been "owl". Owls.mp3 1
BigTreeWalker Posted August 26, 2015 Posted August 26, 2015 Plussed CMbigfoot and coffee2go. Good video and recordings.
Bodhi Posted August 26, 2015 Posted August 26, 2015 Just wanted to thank everyone who posted links to sounds on this thread. I'm a die-hard skeptic but I LOVE all audio recordings! Just so cool, I can listen to this stuff all day!!
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