Unusual call

["Anthony Overs via Canberrabirds " <>]

Hi Ben.

Not sure whether anyone replied to you...

The call you've recorded is a 'yelp' call. 

The boobook has ten vocalisations:
Boobook, Single hoot, Por/Croak, Squeal, Bray, Trill, Yelp, Growl, Scream, and Squeak.

HANZAB describes the call:

Loud falsetto cat-like yelp yow, usually repeated, and uttered particularly during autumn or winter, and usually by females, though commonly by males on Mokoia I., NZ; uttered with open bill (Stidolph 1925; Buckingham & Jackson 1990; Stephenson 1998; Fleay; Hollands). Used when swooping at Powerful Owl (McNabb 1996) and when defending fledgelings against people (Olsen & Trost 1998). Said to be analogous to Scream of Barking Owl (Fleay).

Anthony

On Sat, 14 Mar 2026 at 20:34, ben milbourne via Canberrabirds <> wrote:

Good evening,

Whilst enjoying the cool Brindabella breeze with Mel Pearce, we were surprised by a call which neither of us had encountered before https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/652743963

After a little research, supported by Deb, it appears to be a Boobook call [cf https://xeno-canto.org/416600 Wollemi NP (2018)].

Curious whether anyone may be able to please confirm this observation.  And if it does prove indeed to be a Boobook, what this 'unusual' call may be communicating.

Cheers, Ben 

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