If Shazam and Tweet had a baby (well sort of...)

[tinnitus]

Sat up late watching TV last night and heard some distinctive hooting somewhere outside in the dark. Killed the tube and asked if Mrs. Tinnitus could hear it too. The direction and echo made us believe it was two blocks downhill from us in the woods.

Long story short, she went out on the deck and sampled the sound on her iPhone using an app called Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab. Response was instantaneous. What we were hearing was a Great Horned Owl - a loud one.

Whole process took her less than a minute. I don't know about you folks, but I think that's a pretty cool app!

[ghostnote]

We have that app, and I agree, it’s pretty cool. We hardly need it: my better half is a decades-long birder, and she can identify most birds without it. It’s amazing how many she knows. Btw, the Great Horned Owl has a very distinctive call, and you can hear it a long distance away. In mating season we often hear two or three of them calling to each other late at night from different locations in the woods. Owls are my favorite birds.

[Steve-arino]

Shhwweeet!

[srick]

It’s a great app - always at the ready on my phone. I find it amazing how many different calls one species has. So, as much as we can pretty much identify the calls by ear, we are often stymied.

And there are a bunch of owls around us. They are a chatty bunch!

[edcmat-l1]

We have quite the resurgence of Bald Eagles in our area. Their screech is unmistakable.

[MrDB]

Don't know much about Owls but there was one in our neighborhood for several years and I would hoot back at it as best I could. I guess my hoot was good enough as it would keep getting closer until it would be sitting on the roof of the shed just staring at me. The Mrs and I got quite a kick out of it.

[tinnitus]

Originally Posted by MrDB

Don't know much about Owls but there was one in our neighborhood for several years and I would hoot back at it as best I could. I guess my hoot was good enough as it would keep getting closer until it would be sitting on the roof of the shed just staring at me. The Mrs and I got quite a kick out of it.

Given that hooting is a mating call, would that make you a flock-blocker? LOL.

[GoPappy]

We live on about 16 acres and the bottom part is mostly woods with some open pasture. I hear the Great Horned Owls down there almost every night. I know there is at least one pair down there, but I've only ever seen them flying away from me, so I don't know where they nest. I'd love to find out so I could put a remote camera there to film them.

I went outside in the middle of the night one night and one of them was resting on the ridge line of my barn. They are magnificent creatures.

I've also put up a couple of Eastern Screech Owl nest boxes, but so far I have not attracted any that I know of. They may be leery of nesting in a Great Horned Owl's territory.