FWIW,
The owl I heard a week or two ago in Deakin was an adult (male) Barking Owl.
No possible ambiguity.
DN
On 01/02/2013, at 11:41 AM, Philip Veerman <> wrote:
> Can I offer some ideas. Firstly Boobooks are known common breeding species in
> our area. Barking Owls are not. Though it is always possible that Barking
> Owls could turn up in our area. My reading is that the recent mention of
> trilling calls by young owls are entirely consistent with young Boobooks and
> I see nothing in it to suggest Barking Owls (unless good further evidence
> comes forward). As a very general observation, it is common for the begging
> calls of young of a whole range of species within the same genus or family to
> be very similar or maybe indistinguishable (by us). Just an example of the
> broad biological principle of "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny".
>
> As for Jude's bird I can't guess from this whether the sound she heard is
> from a bird or even the same bird that "fluttered at my window". Nor whether
> either was an owl. I suspect a misunderstanding if Jude thinks that clearly
> like a very loud cricket is closest to a Masked Owl call. Maybe it too is the
> begging calls of young Boobooks. But if what was seen was much larger than a
> Boobook, with darker chestnut stomach and wings then that doesn't fit a Barn
> Owl, as they are always pale on the front with the bits that aren't white are
> patterned pale fawn. As to whether it was an (unlikely) Masked Owl or Barking
> Owl well maybe but far closer observation is needed.
>
> Philip
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jude hopwood
> Sent: Friday, 1 February 2013 9:20 AM
> To: COG
> Subject: [canberrabirds] owls
>
> Dear All,
>
> As there are quite a few emails to this chatline that I simply don't get,
> I've missed the conversation on the 'trilling' call of young boobooks. The
> sound the owl that I've identified as the (unlikely) Masked Owl made was
> clearly like a very loud cricket as described in that conversation. However,
> the bird that fluttered at my window was much larger than a Boobook, with
> darker chestnut stomach and wings. It could have been a large Barn Owl only
> it had no clear pale portions. Does anyone have an alternative ID that might
> be more likely?
>
> Jude
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