I was at the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area (in Howard) with a
friend on August 18, and we also heard owls.
Down by the river around 4:30 pm we heard a Barred Owl calling. After a
few minutes of solitary calls from a male, we heard a higher-pitched
female call -- simultaneously, just slightly delayed. The lower-pitched
call would start, and after about about three "notes" the higher-pitched
call would chime in. All were classic "who cooks for you? who cooks for
you-all?" calls, so we'd hear the end of the higher-pitched call after
the lower-pitched call had ended. They did that several more times
before ending.
About an hour later in the upland area we heard a male Great Horned Owl
calling in the distance off to the west. He was answered by another male
Great Horned closer and east of us. After some territorial discussion
between the males, the easterly owl was answered by a nearby female. All
three owls continued calling. There was a trail heading down the hill to
the east so we followed it toward the pair. The westerly male's calls
faded out as we moved away, but we never did hear an answer from a
female in that area. We got fairly close to the pair of owls in the
east; they were calling back and forth continuously for about 15 minutes.
We were also very puzzled by hearing owls duetting at this time of year.
Sherry
Hank Dahlstrom wrote:
> While paddling in the marsh near Taylor's Island this weekend, I heard a very deep Who-who-who shortly before sunset. Then the next morning I was serenaded by owls from about 6:00 to 6:15 am. There were three or four, two fairly close, one or two much further away. The loudest would call Who-who who who, and the next loudest would answer, who-who-who who who in a somewhat higher tone. It was an amazing and wonderful way to wake up! I wonder about the calls--they did not have that slurry ending of a barred owl's "Who cooks for you"--could they have been Great Horned Owls? And why are they calling now--I thought they were mostly vocal during mating season? and why that morning and not the three other days when I was there?
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> Any info about this would be most interesting---thanks,
> ---Hank D.
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