Not really possible to give a full answer but if you go to the website
https://xeno-canto.org/( Xeno-canto) and search on Australian birds and try the potential owls and pigeons, that would be a good place to start maybe making a match. My suggestion
is, (apart from searching out a sighting), is given the time, it is much more likely to be a pigeon such as Common Bronzewing, than an owl.
Actually, given Shorty’s suggestion, I just listened to a few of the White-headed Pigeon recordings on Xeno-canto and it matches your description and thus seems
like a very likely candidate.
Philip
From: Canberrabirds [
On Behalf Of David Nicholls
Sent: Monday, 9 September, 2024 5:11 PM
To:
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Owl?
There's a bird calling here (5pm) from nearby tall coastal melaleuca that's making a "hoo" sound. My iPhone app (Morcombe and Stewart) has a recording of a Powerful Owl, making "hoo hoo" calls, but which otherwise are very similar to
the single "hoo" of whatever bird is calling here (Tura Beach, NSW far south coast).
Could it be a Powerful Owl or perhaps some kind of dove?
It's not very loud so can't yet record it.
