Western Screech-Owl Sounds

Overview
ID info
Life History
Maps
Sounds

Song (Northern)
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Arizona, February 18, 2010Recorded by Bob McGuire / Macaulay Library
Song (Northern)
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Washington, December 03, 1989Recorded by Dave Herr / Macaulay Library
Song (Northern)
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Arizona, March 23, 2012Recorded by Bob McGuire / Macaulay Library
Duet (Northern)
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Arizona, May 19, 1999Recorded by Geoffrey A. Keller / Macaulay Library
Calls (Northern)
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Washington, November 03, 1990Recorded by Dave Herr / Macaulay Library
Calls (Northern)
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Washington, November 03, 1990Recorded by Dave Herr / Macaulay Library

Sounds provided by Macaulay Library.
Listen to more sounds of this species from the ML archive.

Songs

Heard at dusk and into the night, the Western Screech-Owl's most distinctive vocalization is its "bouncing ball" song: a series of 5–9 short, whistled hoots, speeding up ping-pong-ball fashion toward the end. The male uses this for territorial and courtship advertising, often calling from a nest tree or a prospective nest site. In duets sung by a mating pair, the female's notes are interspersed with the male's—her voice higher than her mate's, despite her larger size.

Calls

To stay in contact, pairs of screech-owls use a short "double trill" call; when agitated, they make a barking sound. Adult females whinny in response to the male's bouncing ball song, and to solicit feeding and copulation.

Other Sounds

Western Screech-Owls snap their bills when approached closely by a potential predator such as a crow, squirrel, or human. Nestlings begin doing this when they are about 8 days old.