Owl calls?

[Andi Stephens]

I'm hearing something that sounds a lot like the "Juvenile calls" on this page:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_Owl/sounds

however it seems like the wrong time of year for juveniles.

Sounds are coming from about 30' up in a Doug fir.

For years, I've had Great Horned Owls in those trees, but I haven't heard them for quite a while.

Any thoughts?

--Andi

[Joel Geier]

We still have begging juvenile owls at our place, every night for the past 2 months. I think these are Great Horned Owls as their grating skree! calls are less drawn out than juvenile Barred Owls, though we sometimes hear Barred Owls here.

It's been kind of annoying, to be honest. Where other folks are reporting the nocturnal calls of Swainson's Thrushes etc., all I hear when I go outside at night are these unrelenting juvenile owls.

This morning at 6:15 am I could hear two of them, still begging for handouts even as the adults are starting their duet in anticipation of the next brood.

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Joel Geier

Camp Adair area north of Corvallis

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From: "Andi Stephens" <andi.q....@gmail.com>
To: "Mid-Valley Nature" <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2021 6:33:01 AM
Subject: [MidValleyNature:6170] Owl calls?

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[Don Boucher]

Hi Andi, Joel,

This is typical for Great Horned Owls that have fledged in the spring. Like this recording from Colorado in September https://www.xeno-canto.org/195490. You can hear two calls in this recording, the high-pitched screech/squawk is a juvenile and the deeper, almost bark-like squawk is an adult female. The adult female call may be heard into the winter.

-Don

Don Boucher

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[Andi Stephens]

Well, I just wouldn't have expected juvenile begging this late  ...  shows how much I know!

--Andi

[Lisa Millbank]

I always thought it was kind of amazing how long they care for their young.  Most young Great Horned Owls hatch very early in the year, I'm guessing February or March, because I've seen fledglings in April.  The parents keep feeding them into September or possibly later in some cases.  Some of the ones begging into fall might have been from nests that fledged later, after the first clutch failed, but regardless, they really devote much of the year to feeding the fledglings. The fledglings must leave at some point, but then in the winter as nesting season approaches, the adult female increases her begging as part of their courtship.  Seems like the male hardly gets a break from bringing food to someone!

Lisa Millbank

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