I don’t know the details, beyond what was reported on TV news. It appeared odd to me that the police, on an extensive search, did not find anything. Including,
it seems, no car. It would be easy for someone to perceive a word “help”, within the sound of this bird’s scream, if you did not know what it is. And very few people would know it. As in, if you hear a scream, it would be easy to believe the screamer was “help”.
I don’t know either way but there are past records of times that a barking owl call has led to police investigations of a woman in distress.
I did go to a police station today to report this suggestion and show reference to it in one field guide. The officer took notes and would forward it on to
the relevant staff. The way to investigate the possibility is - 1 to ask if there were also any dog–like sounds with it (as in the barking sound of the owl) and 2 to play recordings of the call to the witnesses who reported it and ask could that be maybe what
you heard?
The little private zoo in Gungahlin has one Barking Owl (or did when I went there a few years ago).
Philip
From: Anthony Overs [
Sent: Thursday, 24 August, 2023 1:28 PM
To: Graeme Clifton
Cc: Philip Veerman; Canberra birds
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] Gibraltar falls
Haha, yes, the use of words might exclude a Barking Owl.
However, they do make a horrendous, terrifying, screaming call in autumn, which would lead one to think that one is to be murdered next. Especially if one is camping in Cocoparra National Park,
alone, on a Monday night, and a Barking Owl lets a scream rip while perched about ten feet above one's tent.
On Thu, 24 Aug 2023 at 09:57, Graeme Clifton via Canberrabirds <> wrote:
The report I read was that it was a woman calling “help”.
Graeme Clifton
On 23 Aug 2023, at 10:41 pm, Philip Veerman <> wrote:
Given the reports of a screaming woman at Gibraltar falls on Monday night and a police search having failed to find anything. I am wondering if there could be a Barking Owl there.
Apart from the well known woof woof sound, they also make a very good screaming woman sound.
Philip Veerman
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