Great Horned Owl Call (2023)

FAQs

What does a Great Horned Owl call say? ›

Great Horned Owls advertise their territories with deep, soft hoots with a stuttering rhythm: hoo-h'HOO-hoo-hoo. The male and female of a breeding pair may perform a duet of alternating calls, with the female's voice recognizably higher in pitch than the male's.

“Most owls respond to prerecorded calls, especially during the breeding season,” Beveroth said. “Sometimes, in response to a recorded call, barred owls, usually a male and female, can be heard caterwauling (hooting loudly) to each other.

Bird scientists will tell you that great horned owls hoot for several reasons. Primarily the nighttime hooting is a territorial claim notifying intruders they are in the owl's territory. Hoots can also signal to other owls that there is danger such as a predator close by, or it might be mated pairs communicating.

In fact, Great Horned Owls never shut up. Winter, spring, summer...they are always calling for some reason. But in many ways they are easier to hear on cold, crisp nights, when their sounds aren't dampened by summer foliage or drowned out by the blaring of crickets and the neighbor's wild parties.

Great Horned Owl- “Who's Awake? Me too” Carolina Chickadee- “chk-a-dee-dee-dee” Northern Cardinal- “Cheer- cheer-cheer-purty-purty-purty”

"You can't soar with the eagles in the morning if you hoot with the owls at night." He was right.

Most owl hoots can be heard from a quarter mile away. However, the Great Horned Owls' call can be heard miles away if the night is still.

The title comes, specifically, from the native belief that when a person hears an owl call their name, which the young vicar does in due course, it means you do not have long to live. Owls have long been associated with the shadows, with night and with death.

In many cultures, it is said that if you see an owl or hear its distinctive call, it is a sign of bad luck and impending doom. Some traditions say that if you see an owl at night or if it appears in your home or village instead of a darker, wilder environment, it is a sign that something terrible is about to happen.

Owls have also long been viewed as harbingers of bad luck and even death. One myth tells us that bad luck will befall anyone who hears an owl hoot three times. Another wild myth claims that owls are the only creatures that can live with ghosts.

How good is a great horned owls hearing? ›

Their sense of hearing is so acute that they can detect a mouse stepping on a twig from a distance of 75 feet (23 meters). Their eyes are so large that they cannot move them back and forth like humans—instead they must turn their heads.

Owls benefit gardens by naturally tamping down rodent populations. Owls catch and eat mice, rats, voles, shrews, and other small animals. Some large owls even target skunks.

Great Horned Owls are monogamous and members of a pair often remain on the same territory year round. Pairs may stay together for at least five years, perhaps for life.

The Great Horned Owls' call sound like “Hoo HooHoooooo HooHoo” The sounds can be heard miles away in a still night.

Great horned owls will usually perch or roost during the day in a protected area such as a tree limb or rocky overhang. When awake and hunting they use their excellent ability to hear to catch their prey. This is aided by excellent eyesight and the fact that they make little-to-no noise when they fly.

Barred Owls have a distinctive hooting call of 8–9 notes, described as “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?” This call carries well through the woods and is fairly easy to imitate.

"The wailing owl screams solitary to the mournful moon." "Do not trap yourself into an owl's hooting sound where sad nights linger through the blackness of a hound." "The owl flies, in the moonlight, over a field where the wounded cry out. Like the owl, I fly in the night over my own misfortune."

Owls hoot, scream, and call out at night for the same reason birds chirp and sing: to establish and protect their territory, to woo females, and to signal the presence of a predator, among other reasons. The only reason they're so vocal in the dark is because most owls are nocturnal or at least crepuscular.