Sounds of the Barred Owl or Hoot Owl - "Who Cooks For You, Who Cooks For You All"
August 10, 2018
Manistee National Forest
Near Manistee, Michigan
Most nights in the forests of Michigan are very quite and still. The only sounds in the night would be an occasional coyote howl or the calls of hoot owls or barred owls. Many times they sounded very close to my campsite, but I never did see one either perched or in flight. Owls are the quietest in flight of all the predatory birds enabling them to fly within inches of their prey without being detected. The call phonetically sounds like, "who cooks for you, who cooks for you all."
The Barred Owl is considered an invasive species west of the Rockies since it has caused the reduction in numbers of the Northern Spotted Owl because of its presence. Interestingly, the two owl species can interbreed creating the hybrid Sparred Owl. Other smaller owl spe are hit by predation by Barred Owls causing their numbers to dwindle as well. Unfortunately the US government has now felt the need to correct these incidences by eliminating the Barred Owl in the west. Undoubtedly state interference is never a good solution to any problem.
Barred Owls do very well in suburban environments because woodland areas broken up with cleared areas make hunting for prey easier. Owls are important in these areas for natural rodent control.
Owls have extremely sensitive hearing and detect frequencies beyond our own capability. They can hone in on a sound very specifically both horizontally and vertically that helps them find prey hidden by snow and ground cover.
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