Hissing barred owls
Jeffrey A. Friedhoffer (jfried997@internetMCI.com)
Thu, 09 Jul 1998 23:26:58 -0400
I have seen barred owls the last few nights in Columbia and can usually
find them by their loud hissing sound. Daius Ecker wrote the following
I believe the hissing sounds are the young birds. I'll quote Stokes's
Bird
Behavior Volume III. "One of the more common calls of the young is a
hissing-squeaking sound about three seconds long that rises in pitch at
the
end. It may be repeated as often as two or three times a minute. The
young
can also make other chittering sounds. As the young begin to fly, they
follow
the parents around as they hunt."
Tonight I observed one hissing and it had very clear vertical strips on
the chest. Does anyone know what an immature barred owl looks like and
how it differs from an adult. All the books I have only show mature
birds which have a vertically striped chest. My Thayer North American
birds CDs shows three fledglings together and their chests are fuzzy
and don't have the vertical striping. Did I hear a hissing adult?
Has anyone else heard barred owls hissing?
Thanks
Jeff Friedhoffer