How cool Ging!
I used to hear owls in October in the woods behind us. But now that it's grown up more, I'm hearing more and more of them all through the year. Recently, I'm hearing 2-3 barred owls and it's soooooo glorious a sound to hear coming from the woods.
What you saw is soooooo neat! You have a great way of writing and it really painted the picture for me.
Others have said they're hearing more owls this year too. They are such incredible beings.
Good luck with your group. You are soooooo lucky to experience this!

How exciting!

(I saw and heard at barn owl last night on a walk up the hill to the local pub.)

There's a nest in a nearby town, of Great Horned Owls. I stopped over to check it out at dusk one night last week and saw 3 of the owls. It was too dark for me to tell which were juveniles and which were adults. I know there are 3 or 4 fledglings there. I love owls!

We had a group of young barred's (isn't it called 'branching' when they first leave the nest?? Hmmmm, can't recall....) over near our farm in a creek bottoms. One evening while my husband was planting corn I got out and walked down the road to see if i could still locate the little grey balls of fluff in the oncoming dusk. If you whoo-ahed just right the fledgies will do their wheeeeeeeeeeeep respond-call, and that's what happened this time, too, until they noticed my human form creeping along down in the road (hard to creep in gravel, too) and changed to that bill-popping thing that they do when they feel threatened. About that time one of the parents showed up too. Not at all happy with my being there, but it never resorted to any drive-bys, just took up a position staring at me from a low branch. It's hard to think of another creature with eyes quite like that. Something visceral twitches in your guts when you look up into those black eyes, and you know they don't miss a thing.
Sadly enough, a few days later as we were leaving that way, we came across one of the chicks dead in the road. I scooped it up and brought it home to try and see what might have killed it. Looked like it had been hit by a car at first, but then I found a small hole through and under one wing, with the youngster's feathers blown inwards. It looked like the hole that a .22 caliber might make, but I didnt have the heart to go ahead and dig for a bullet. Rather not know for certain that one of those wonderful birds got shot...prefer to think of it as a car-death since I already have more than enough hatred for the local redneck boys.

That's a sad story dirtgirl. I have a neighbor who used to shoot birds for the fun of it.
I think he's outgrown that phase-hopefully. I think you're correct regarding the "branching" term.

Thanks Catherine for the kind comments; it's so easy to write about experiences like that with all the wonder behind it. It sounds like you feel the same way about your neighbors!
I'm glad to hear that so many people have owls nearby - it seemed for awhile that they were getting more and more rare in sightings and/or hearing. I think that's one reason it's so special for me to hear them. Wish I had some screech owls around. I really envy all of you in the different areas of the country - I would love to hear some of the other species of owls.
Dirtgirl, I sure was sorry to hear about the branchers (yep, you were right) but I must say how much I covet your having a nest that you can see with a watchful parent and I'm with you on the eyes. That quiet, intense gaze has always made me think there's a lot more going on behind that look than I know. Just like you said: visceral. Great description.
(Though it was heart-wrenching I was laughing over the 'drive-bys'. What a perfect, timely phrase. )
Maybe we'll all have more to tell as the season progresses. I'm looking forward to hearing more.
Ging

I love owls. They are the coolest birds. Dirtgirl, did you ever read the children's story "Owl Moon?" You will have to look it up the next time you are at the library. It is a picture book about a child that goes "owling" with his/her dad. The sex of the child is impossible to figure out from the story or the pics, so every child that I have ever read it to sees themselves in the story. It is a wonderful story. Your story reminded me of it.

I harbor a special affection when it comes to owls, too. Don't go so far as to collect owl porcelains and fridge magnets and stationery...that obsessive compulsion is one I save for frogs of any kind, although I have so much wildlife-nature related stuff in my house that you'd be hard pressed to make a distinction of preferences around here.
We have been so lucky to be so close to nature here...a few years ago our bottoms flooded and of course I threw on my rubber boots and went sloshing around to have a look at what was floating around in the woods. Not too often can I find minnows on my trails! I heard a noise from one of the side washes and went to see what was making such a weird screeching whistle and was rewarded with my first up-close-and-personal encounter with a fledgie barred owl. It was cluthcing the side of a tree root just inches above the flowing water and making the wheeeeeeep call. Breaking the never-intervene rule, I carefully lifted the bill-snapping youngster to higher ground and became aware that one parent was gliding back and forth some distance off. It was making a whinnying noise that I had never heard from a barred before, and you couldn't help but feel like the call signified something like fear and concern on the part of the parent. I sloshed back to the house, got the camera and the husband (who really dislikes leeches but came along to humor me) and went back to shoot some good close-ups. I got very lucky and managed not to cut a head off or insert my thumb into the corner. I just wish I had digital know-how, or even how to scan and then insert pictures. Oh they are something I am proud of!
We discovered two other chicks some way off that had fared better and were above the water instead of surrounded by it, and when I went back the next day to check on things, all three were still hanging about the low treetops in the same general area. I wonder if any of the owls calling here through the days and nights might be those same chicks.
I am reminded of just how fortunate we all are to be so close to things like this....PBS has been showing a special about Red Tails nesting in New York City, overlooking 5th Avenue. One lady made a remark about a farmer friend outside town (meaning she must have friends in the next state) marvelling at her surprise and interest with the nesting progress when outside of the city a hawk's nest is an everyday thing. I had to lean back in my chair and laugh SO HARD. Yep, that's the truth about the country, but even here so many people don't see HALF of what is going on daily around them. Not even too many counrty dwellers will take the time to watch a cicada come completely out of its shell, or look up that wildflower they noticed in the woods. It's easier to see a program on TV than to do your own observing!

Dirtgirl, I am turning positively hunter green with envy! What an incredible event that must have been.
We have a stream down by the town baseball fields in a low area that floods when there's a big rain or a long period of rain and I never can resist 'sloshing' around either. Snake hunting then is wonderful and the Great Blue Herons and Little Blues can be found stalking further out than normal; the turtles get washed all over creation and seem really disgruntled about the whole thing. We have some otters down there as well and various warblers, etc. A marvelous place to go exploring and seeking.
The only experiences I have had actually touching owls have been associated with injured birds in the vet's office or on a call for the Humane Society. The Barn Owl that the call was for had been hurt somehow under a wing. It was impossible to tell how due to details I won't go into except to say that insects were already present and it was too far gone to be saved. At the vet's a Great Horned was brought in and the doctor that was attempting to treat it was hooked right under one eye by the owl's beak when it lashed out. Naturally she let it go and no one wanted to approach it. I was working as a receptionist at that point waiting for an opening for a tech and no one had seen me in any 'action' with the animals. I believe they had forgotten my application and/or experience. I got the gauntlets and found the poor hissing, frightened owl and returned him to his 'carrier' when the doctors finally looked around in search of him. They all could have caught flies in those open mouths when I told them it was okay, he was back in his carrier, don't worry... . I imagine they also thought no one would want to approach that little devil after the incident. Maybe I'm insensitive to humans, but I can't forget that these animals are scared, not vicious or intentionally trying to harm.
Hope I have a better encounter in the future if necessary. What happened with you is just the sort of thing that I enjoy hearing. Someone who is concerned and caring enough to do their level best to try and help. That fledgling might have been a meal for a predator without you. Kudos!
Ging

You are jealous of ME?? You say YOU have otters.....ooooooooow. No way. Now it's my turn to go a shade of green!! I assume otters used to inhabit most of the rivers and larger streams here as well. THey must be staging a small kind of comeback of sorts...there is a notice in the yearly fishing/hunting regulations booklet put out by the DNR about reporting any sightings of bobcats or otters, and nothing would please me more than having to look that number up and make a call.
But I worry about the pendulum effect...not too many years ago you would have been hard pressed to find a beaver in many of the waterways of my area, and now people are having to deal with flooding and tree cutting where the numbers have rebounded. I wonder if the day is coming when bobcats will have a hunting/trapping season like coyotes.
It's like the swaying of a boat on the sea, first this way and then that, but never very long in one place.

I have an owl question.....
Sometimes I hear the barred owls here in the middle of the day. I thought they were nocturnal??

Dirtgirl,
Wish we all lived closer to each other. It would be so nice to get people together and 'trip' to various spots. I'd really love to see a bobcat. I saw one lynx years ago and never have again. That was one short glimpse too. Wouldn't have had a clue if it weren't for those hind legs and then the head turned, and, well, there you go. Can't miss that silhouette.
Would love to take you to see the wood storks down this way. They seem to be coming back finally. Looked like for awhile they were headed for extinction. My folks saw five of them (youngsters) at a roadside 'puddle' (from all the recent rains - many little pond-type spots that sprouted up) with a Great Blue Heron. They also visited a rookery we have checked on for years and the entire area was covered up in Great Blues, Little Blues, Anhinga, and I believe she said one Common Egret. A little wierd that there weren't crowds of Cattle Egrets but it may have been too crowded for them all this year. Babies everywhere at different stages. Next weekend may see me out-of-town. ;)

CatherineT, you may want to ask Dirtgirl about the Barred owls. I have heard owls during daylight hours and so have my folks who have been birding and 'wildlifing' all their lives. I know any bird can be disturbed when sleeping/roosting and have heard them (other birds) at night, but I have also seen owls out in the daytime as well as hearing them. Aha! I just checked one of my bird books and it says 'Barred Owls regularly call in the daytime.' Well, that's informative but I wonder why?
Went and checked 'The Owl Pages' on the web and the link is below. It's got a good page about the Barred Owls. Explains a lot to me - particularly why I see them at dusk and what I have around that they like to munch. Neat. Thanks for asking about that! I learned a lot due to you.
Ging

Here is a link that might be useful: Barred owl

I don't know about other owl species but I can tell you that barreds dont seem to give a toot what time they hoot. (Sorry, I had to do that to you)
I am not positive if they are supposed to hunt solely at night either. The parent of the chicks down at the farm would occasionally be spotted swooping across the road hauling in voles and what-not even during the day. My guess is that having chicks to rear makes them somewhat round-the-clock providers. I need to read up on this!
Ging...would love to take a shorebird tour with a group of knowledgables since I am woefully ignorant when it comes to these kinds of birds. I found a golden plover dead on the road one day and took it to a friend for id. Had no idea there WAS a golden plover, but then there are so many types to know. I worked as a research assistant on Assateague Island off the Outer BAnks once, and we had piping plovers which were endangered.I never did get completely familiar with those birds. Heck, being a corn belt kinda girl, I had a hard time even getting past the sanderlings, let alone the whole list of plovers. I have to live for years in an area,to see and hear and experience the behavioral intricacies of a a bird in its natural environment before I can commit it to memory.

Okay! Let's all go! :)))) As if we have all the time in the world.
I would love to do that sometime. If we can ever find a time where we're passing tolerably near each other or anyone on this wild crew let's make the effort. It would be so much fun.
Ging

here in southeast iowa....it is soooo very awesome to hear them. i have yet to see one, but, wowser bowser they get to carrying on out there in the yard. it is the best. does anyone know what that monkey call is that they do? they sound just like the jungle, what you would envision a mad monkey would do....love it!

I lurk around this site but have seldom taken the time to thank all of your for the zillion pieces of helpful info. you have passed on.

Thanks to you, I found a website about owls and discovered that our neighborhood "ghost" is a Barred. It guards us during the night after our resident red tailed hawk has gone off duty.

A year ago, someone here made an i.d. of deer spore for me.. wellllll.. it was a different configuration from the usual stuff, folks!

Y'ALL are marvelous teachers. Thanks so much.
Dot

Hi Dot,
That's really nice of you to say. Just wait though, before too long I'll bet YOU will have something to say that teaches us a thing or two. That's one of the things I like about these forums - all the stories and observations are mines of information and thought provoking enough to incite digging for answers. It makes research and learning a pleasure.
Looking forward to hearing more about your 'ghost'. That's what they remind you of, isn't it? Like something a little outside this reality.
Ging

Hey, Ottumwa,
ROFL! The wild monkey call! That's terrific... all I could think of was an owl swinging by one wing and scratching with the other while hooting madly. What a visual. I want you to describe that call a little more, too. I think I know what you're talking about but I want to be sure because if I don't - well, I want to hear it!
Ging

If you want to see owls....get ducks....they try to kill them!!!! Now I have bird netting specially made to keep them and hawks out. I also room them with my geese which protect my ducks. I do have coops to lock them in but this keeps out the early owls and late morning owls that sit in my pines. My neighbor thought I was exagerating until he came early for coffee and saw three perched atop diff. pines while pullin down the long driveway....needless to say he's a believer! He thinks when I let the ducks out it must look like the perfect owl dinner! Thank goodness for my netting. There are alot of other options out there to people who think they are pesky. I can enjoy their beauty (and sometimes at night their way too loud calling!) without any harm to them with the special made netting. It was costly...but what my DH doesn't know doesn't hurt his pocket! LOL!!!

May I ask a stupid question. I'm new to this forum,but loved birds all my life. I don't think I've ever heard an owl. I know they must be around because I'm one of those crazy people that will pick apart their pellets to see what they ate. I live on 4 acres surrounded by 100's of acres of trees and pastures.
Is there a website with owl calls? What time of the evening is best for hearing them. I've ID'd all my daytime birds--took forever to figure out my yellow-billed cuckoo. I didn't even know we had them until one banged itself on a window and I looked him up in my book. The call was described and at last I had it ID'd.
Any help would be much appreciated.
C. in Austin

Hi C!
Welcome from those of us who also pick apart various 'unsavory' things and enjoy it! (Well, sort of... )
:))
There are some great sites for the owl calls. I've got the Owlpages as a link and you might want to check out enature.com and try a Google search for other 'owl call' sites. It's been a pleasant surprise to find so much info available about owls out there.
Please ignore all the gnashing teeth out there in response to your 'acreage'. I am delighted, though, that you may have solved a mystery for me. I have never seen a yellow-billed Cuckoo and never thought I'd heard one. Until now. I looked it up to see the bird after reading your post and I believe it's the bird I tried to get people to help me tenatively i.d. on the call and a very brief glance. The call described sure sounds like the one I heard.
Thanks!
Ging

Here is a link that might be useful: Owlpages

Ging,
Thanks for the welcome. As for the Cuckoo---I always heard their call, but could never find the bird. Evidentally they are very secretive. I would never have ID'd the call had the one not slammed into a window. I had to take him in overnight so he could shake it off. When I release him the next morning he flew into a nearby tree and immediately called out to his buddies. At last that sad, trailing cry went with a bird. They almost sound like some sort of tree frog in the beginning of the call.
I'll open your link tonight after the kids are in bed. It will be a great night for sitting on the porch and listening for any nearby owls. Right now my Chimney Swifts are coming in for the evening. They moved into our chimney while the house was being built. They migrate out just in time for our first fire and come back in the spring when it's too warm for fires. It's funny, they're really more bat-like than bird.
Thanks for your help and I'll let you know if I hear any owls.
Carla in Austin

Love the cuckoos too. Most of the locals here call them rain crows since the myth has it that they call before a storm. They do have an odd call. CCox, you think it's a sad one? I don't know, it always reminds me of sitting in a fishing boat with my dad years and years ago. A cuckoo would do its cuk cuk cuk ca ca kow kow kow thing and dad would say, There's a rain crow, gonna be good fishing today.
Never seemed to really have a bearing on the good or bad of the trip but the call still reminds me of those days on the water with him.
I discovered a nest on a rather low branch of a tree here years ago. For days all I would see was a bird butt sticking out one side, and from where I was standing it looked almost like a dove's tail but not quite. Then one day I saw the cuckoo fly to the nest. I'd never seen one before and was delighted but unfortunately I never did see a brood. We had a series of strong storms and had to bring in one of our tractors to clean up the snapped off trees. The stack with all its hot fumes and roaring deisel engine were still not enough to make that bird leave the nest and after the cleanup was done a tail could still be seen jutting out of the flimsy nest.
Too bad the chicks never appeared. I always assumed a snake was responsible.

I posted earlier and said I'd found evidence of owls, but never heard one. The katydids in my area are so loud that they are usually all I hear. Well not tonight! Thanks to Ging and Owlpages I was able to ID my first owl call--a Barred Owl was sitting in a tree very close to the house. I heard it through double pane windows and the ceiling fan on high. It even stayed put long enough for me to step out on the porch and listen more closely. Great fun! I feel lucky somehow.
Carla in Austin

Hi Carla,
You are lucky! Owls are wonderful creatures, and I always feel special when I get to hear them! Have fun with these incredible birds!

I've been fortunate to hear owls hooting, but have yet to see them. It can be a somewhat chilling sound, just like the howl of a wolf. I would think my chances of seeing an owl would be greater than a wolf (been one of the many fortunate to have seen a wild pack of wolves at yellowstone back in 2001), but so far, no luck in seeing 'woodsy the owl'. Last month (May), the owls were calling continuously for approx. 3 hours +, starting around 8:30PM. Don't know what time it subsided, as I fell asleep. Usually I hear them much later, around midnight. Haven't heard them for over a month now, though.

Hi lilpanda,
I haven't heard them recently either. It's amazing how quietly they can fly......even through thick trees.

I have been hearing Owls most nights from mid Summer on this year and thru the Fall. Just was hearing them last night again, which means it had to be close as my windows are closed lately. In the Summer, with the windows open, I would usually hear them faintly so I knew they were further away.

I heard them a couple of times even over the winter. Usually I just hear them in summer when my windows are open but I take it as a good sign that they are around all year.

Hi all,
Mine (yes, I own them! ;)) stayed here all year this year. I heard them talking to each other tonight. And I saw them swoop down into my yard, near a brush pile. They are sooooo cool! Mine are barred owls.

We have year-round residents here-- great horneds, screechies, and of course our ever-vocal extended family of barred owls.
Just today we saw an adult hanging around near the ground, and when we backed up our pickup for a better look it seemed reluctant to leave so I am guessing there might have been a chick or two in the leaves. They blend in rather well.