As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday, 2 November 2014

Whooooo said that? The distinct voices of owls


This interesting video shares some of the calls made by a few owl species, including the calls made by one of the world’s most widespread bird species, the barn owl.


Since tomorrow is All Souls’ Day (and last night was Halloween), when people’s thoughts turn to ghosts and spooky animals, I thought I’d share this fun little video about owls and their distinct voices. As you’ll hear in this video, each owl species has its own special voice just as they have their own distinctive appearance.
This video discusses several North American owls (most of which reside on the eastern side of the USA and Canada). One of those species is the barn owl, Tyto alba. The barn owl is special because it is one of the most widely-distributed birds in the world, being found almost everywhere except polar and desert regions -- it’s even found on the south Pacific islands throughout much of Indonesia! So widespread is this particular owl -- with many distinct regional forms, each with different sizes and plumage colourings -- that it’s thought to actually be comprised of as many as physically similar five species, although future DNA work will shed more light on this complex and fascinating group of birds.

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