Barred Owl | The Music of Nature

Screeches in the Night

by Lang Elliott · September 17, 2012 · 22 Comments

The first leg of my Australia trip involved driving from my hometown of Ithaca, New York to Columbia, Missouri, where Carl Gerhardt, my co-traveler lives. His home is on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. I arrived yesterday evening and immediately noticed that it was dead-calm. So when darkness fell I walked the ridge trail to a small clearing in the woods, hoping to record the mellow insect chorus. But as I approached the clearing, I became aware of periodic screeches given by two mysterious creatures of the night, one fairly near and the other much farther away.

Excited to get a recording, I quickly placed my soundscape microphone at the edge of the clearing, a hundred feet or so from the nearest screecher. I turned the recorder on, left it sitting on the ground, and then moved back in the woods where I sat on a log and enjoyed the spectacle. How exciting, but “who” or “what” is making these unusual sounds?

Mysterious screeches in the night, set against a cricket and katydid chorus, 16 September 2012, 11:00 pm, near Columbia, Missouri. (don’t play too loud or the insects will overwhelm).

Someone new to nature’s night chorus might think these sounds are made by some kind of mammal. Or, if by a bird, they must be the screeches of a Screech-owl (that sure seems logical, doesn’t it?). Well, they are indeed made by owls, but not by screech-owls (which hardly ever make any sound approaching what we may call a screech) … these are the screeches of two young Barred or Great Horned Owls, I’m not entirely sure which.

Given the time of year, these are certainly not the calls of “baby” owls, but rather of immatures … adult-sized but still dependent on their parents for food. Such screeching sounds are generally thought to be “begging calls” or else “location calls” that allow the parent owls to find and feed the young.

But which species of owl is this? My initial impression was Barred Owl (at times, I could hear adults calling way off in the distance), but Carl says there are a lot of Great Horned Owls in the area. So I’m just not sure. Maybe someone out there can tell me how to tell the two apart, based entirely on the sound of the screeches of the immatures?

To my ear, this is a very pleasurable soundscape. The insects provide a continuous and reasonably mellow backdrop for the owl calls. And I love the distant caller, which adds depth to the recording. On the whole, I am very pleased to snag these mysterious voices of the night, only two days prior to our launch toward Australia.

Shindagin Hollow Overlook

by Lang Elliott · July 10, 2012 · 12 Comments

Of the many soundscape impressions I’ve gathered in Shindagin Hollow, this morning’s dawn chorus ranks among the best. For me, it was magical indeed, as I sat in the still darkness at the top of an overlook, immersed in listening as the twittering of the birds gradually expanded with the light.

Though late in the season for bird song, there is still a captivating performance in the twilight of dawn. This morning (July 10), the first bird (a Scarlet Tanager) began singing around 4:45 am. The chorus peaked within fifteen minutes, ran full tilt for another fifteen minutes, and then gradually tapered off. By 5:45 it was only a pale reminder of its prior self.

Below is a sample of the chorus at its peak. A Scarlet Tanager sings it’s burry dawn song throughout while Hermit Thrushes and Wood Thrushes chime in. Most notably, a Barred Owl hoots periodically from the hollow below. Do not turn the volume up too high … this is intended to be a gentle, subtle listening experience:

Dawn chorus at Shindagin Hollow Overlook. 5am, July 10, 2012. Lang Elliott

I was so moved by this chorus that I began thinking about the magic of the natural soundscape and how we perceive it … how it differs so markedly from our visual experience and how amazingly intimate the sound experience is. Here are my musings, recorded on location, just before I gathered up my gear and headed back into town:

Lang talking about the experience of listening to nature soundscapes, 6am, July 10, 2012.

Owl Screams and Elk Bugles

by Lang Elliott · March 4, 2011 · 18 Comments

Everyone knows that Barred Owls hoot, but have you ever heard a Barred Owl scream? I’m not talking about the hissy screeches made by begging young—I’m referring to full-bodied screams produced by adults? I have only heard this several times in my life and I’ve never been able to record it. In fact, I was of the opinion that nobody had a good recording of this call until my friend and fellow recordist Bruce Rutkoski posted a wonderful example on his NatureGuyStudio web site blog.

What a fabulous recording! Bruce got the owl screams accidently, while gathering recordings of bugling Elk at a remote location in the wilds of northwestern Pennsylvania (where there is an introduced population of Elk). Apparently, the Barred Owl screamed in response to the Elk bugles (the owl screams are indicated with pointers). What an arresting soundscape!:

Elk bugles and a Barred Owl screams. 23 September 2007. Gilmore Trail in northwestern Pennsylvania. Recording © Bruce Rutkoski.

Thank you Bruce for sharing this with us! Also, everyone please check out Bruce’s web site and all the wonderful soundscape CDs he is has up for sale: NatureGuy Studio.