We live out in a rural area. Open fields and small groups of trees, no real ‘forest’ any more. Where our house is, we’re in this dip, in a bowl like space, and sound echos. We hear our neighbors as if they were standing in our yard. Across the road (which is about level to the roof of our house), they have a pipe that drips water into an old bathtub. This is for the handful of cattle they have. Sometimes, we hear that water as if I am standing on the from porch, pouring it.
We’ve heard owls before here, mostly screech owls (which sound very creepy). But lately, this makes the third night, we hear this extremely weird call. The first night, we think someone is screaming, or calling out. Then we thought it was a weird house alarm or some dying dog. Whatever it was, it sounded as it if was in the front yard which means it could be anywhere within a square mile. It is really weird. Second night, about a week later, it only called out a few times. And tonight it did it again. I happened to be up (yes, at 4am; not been to bed yet) so I grabbed my iPod Touch and went out to the front porch.
The first time we heard it, it stopped when it heard me shut the front door. Which makes me think it was really close. This time, it was more distant and it didn’t stop. I recorded a few seconds out front then went to the back porch and recorded some more. Armed with that, I went online (Google is our friend) and I *think* it is a Great Horned Owl. Which would be way cool.
Here’s the sound from the front porch (it is raining and the calls have a dog down in the ‘trailer estates’ barking)
Here’s from the back porch (every time I thought it had stopped, I turned the iPod so I could turn it off but then it would start again. hence the scratching noises near the end).
Now, compare to this: (source – The Owl Pages)
Owlet calling for food
male squawk
What do y’all think?