I agree that calls can be very misleading. As a classical musician with
perfect pitch I thought I had calls down to a tee. I was brought to earth with
a bump when I mistook one call of White-throated Honeyeater for that of Dusky.
Similarly since we’ve been living at Darwin River (80 kms sw of Darwin) I’ve
encountered more misleading calls, with birds common around the house, for
example, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Northern Rosella, Yellow Oriole and other
species, all imitating one another perfectly.
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
PO Box 71
Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841
PhD candidate
Vice-chair Wildlife Tourism Australia
On 1 May 2014, at 4:53 pm, Chris Corben <> wrote:
> Just a precautionary note!
>
> Many years ago, I was with other birders camping in the Grampians of
> Victoria. As we were about to set up camp, we heard what appeared to be a
> Barking Owl, calling repeatedly. It sounded totally convincing to all of us
> and we had plenty of experience with Barking Owls elsewhere, so we were quite
> excited about finding one in the Grampians.
>
> But after calling for some minutes, it started to gradually morph its call
> from the classic "wook-wook" of a Barking Owl into the classic "Whoo-hoo" of
> a Powerful. The morphing was quite gradual, so it went through several stages
> of intermediacy before settling down into typical Powerful calls.
>
> We were able to track it down and confirm it visually as a Powerful Owl.
>
> This left a lasting impression on me, as the earlier calls were completely
> convincing as a Barking Owl. I never would have thought the two species could
> be confused. I ended up realising there is always some doubt about audio
> records, even of distinctive birds.
>
> Cheers, Chris.
>
>
> On 04/30/2014 06:21 PM, Roger McNeill wrote:
>> All,
>> Last May I recorded this Ninox at my place in Samford SEQ. I heard it
>> calling while I was making dinner and thought wow that sounds like a Barking
>> Owl...made the recodings and played it for a few local mates. I was
>> politely told, "nice try, but southern boobooks also can sound like that".
>> I get Southern Boobooks most weeks, but never observed or heard them make
>> this type of call before (or since).
>> Since then however, a Barking Owls has been found about 5 k's away.
>> The recording is ML 189700 http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/189700
>>
>> This recording has now been questioned, rightfully so, by the lads at
>> Cornell and has been tentatively ID'ed as a female Barking Owl, so I am
>> reaching out for any feedback. Can Southern Boobooks sound like this?
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Roger
>> Roger McNeill
>> Samford Valley, SEQ
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>
>
> --
>
> Chris Corben.
>
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