Barred Owls Song for a November Night

 

The barred owl is back for the winter. I don't know where it goes during the summer except that I once saw crows ganging up on it last summer and it took refuge in one of my firs. Maybe it stays around all year, but just doesn't hoot.

Not that it hooted the night I realized it was back. The noise I heard sounded like a sick horse had wandered in from somewhere. After the third maoaoaoahuhuhuhu sound, I went to the back door. The sound came from a tree so it definitely wasn't a horse.

I went to the rec room where Jerry was watching television, and told him what I heard. To my surprise I was able to do a pretty good imitation of the sound so I hurried back upstairs to see what would happen if the strange call was answered. If I had given it a little more thought, I would have wondered what would happen when my neighbors heard me. After my second unanswered maoaoaoahuhuhu I realized that I had just added another story for my neighbors who chat about the state of my mental health.

The call wasn't good enough to get a response anyway so I looked on the internet for owl calls. One of the barred owls calls was almost the same. Not quite as spooky as my barred owl, but obviously from the same species.

So the next morning I topped off my chickadee feeder. I don't want my owl to go hungry. Oh, and by the way, owls do hunt during the day. I've seen it.

Nancy Sherer

 

 


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