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| Ten inquisitive barn owls at rest on a beam at the Facility for Animal Care and Treatment at California State University in
Bakersfield, Calif., at an open house for the public. Casey Christie/The Bakersfield Californian/AP |
Whooo are you? There's an owl in your neighborhood
Wherever they live, kids can probably spot an owl nearby.
By Melissa Hartfrom the August 7, 2007 edition
Page 1 of 3
Picture this: You're hiking through a forest just as the sun slips down behind the trees. Songbirds and squirrels have fallen silent, bedding down for the night. Bats have not yet emerged. All is still except for the crunch of your boots on the dirt path. Suddenly, something above you calls out.
Hoo! Hoo-oo-oo-oo! Hoo! Hoo!
You look up just in time to see a feathered figure glide from one tree to another, its six-foot wings spread wide. Perching on a branch, the bird blends with the tree trunk, almost disappearing from view.
You have just seen an owl – a sight that owlers enjoy.
Children's writer Jane Yolen introduced readers to the nocturnal activity of "owling" with her beloved picture book "Owl Moon."
In it, a girl and her father take a nighttime walk through a New England forest near their farm. "Pa" imitates the call of a great-horned owl, and the enormous bird hoots back. Then it appears. The girl is awestruck.
Is such a thing possible? Can you really call owls to you?
Yes, says Steve Gordon, who leads expeditions for the Lane County Audubon Society in Oregon. He explains that if you can imitate an owl's cry, even roughly, it will answer. "When you hear the call, just call back," he says.
Before you embark on your quest to see who gives a hoot, you'll need a few items.
First, make sure you bring a grown-up. And wear sturdy, closed-toed shoes or boots. You'll be walking on unfamiliar ground in the dark. Second, bring a working flashlight or headlamp. Finally, you might want to bring along a small, lightweight tape recorder. Then you can record and play back the sounds of the owls you discover!
Many owls are nocturnal. This means they're active from dusk until dawn. While you're winding down from your day, some owls are just waking up and leaving their nests to talk with one another. This is the best time to spot them in the wild. Later on, they're busy hunting – an activity that demands absolute concentration – and silence.
"You can also go out before dawn," says Mr. Gordon. "Nocturnal owls are often active in the last couple of hours before [daylight]."
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