canberrabirds

owls

To: COG <>
Subject: owls
From: David Nicholls <>
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2013 11:59:41 +1100
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


*******************************************************************************************************
This is the email announcement and discussion list of the Canberra 
Ornithologists Group.
Please ensure that emails posted to the list are less than 100 kB in size.
When subscribing or unsubscribing, please insert the word 'Subscribe' or 
'Unsubscribe', as applicable, in the email's subject line.
List-Post: <>
List-Help: <>
List-Unsubscribe: <>
List-Subscribe: <>
List archive: <http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds>
List manager: David McDonald, email <>

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • owls, jude hopwood
    • owls, Philip Veerman
      • owls, David Nicholls <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the Canberra Ornithologists Group mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the list contact David McDonald, list manager, phone (02) 6231 8904 or email . If you can not contact David McDonald e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU