Re: Western Tanager & 2 Great Horned Owls

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Jim Duquesnel on 08:39:35 10/15/05

In Reply to: Western Tanager & 2 Great Horned Owls posted by ACE @ Sadowski

I have always wondered z"who is who?" when I hear our screech owl pair calling to each other, and back and forth to other pairs in the neighborhood. Mates definitely call at a different pitch, one lower than the other, but size is hard to tell as I never catch them calling while sitting side by side. So your question made me look it up. I always assumed the much larger females would have the lower and louder call.

So, your query made me look it up. Paul A. Johnsgard, author of North American Owls (1988) writes, of the eastern screech owl: "males have the lower-pitched voices..." while on great horned owls he cites Austing and Holt (1966), "male calls are more prolonged and elaborate than female calls, as well as being relatively rich, deep and mellow."

So now we both have our answers.
Jim Duquesnel

We had another One Day camp for kids who are out of school today and our nature walk this morning was great..
:
: Most notable, the Western Tanager we heard singing above us just past our amphitheater to the left. Beautiful male with his 2 distictive wing bars and red face (in the Peterson guide, it mentions he loses the red color in autumn/winter just as this male, he only had red from top of crown to just above his eyes)
:
: We also spotted our Great Horned Owl in his usual spot, atop the strangler fig which is at the end of our trail near canal. The kids were noisy so he flew to a further tree. We were able to locate him again after he started to call. He was sitting with another Great Horned!
:
: P.S. We think we might have a mating pair but are not positive. There DOES seem to be a difference in the pitch of their calls, one being deeper. Anyone who can give us some insight, please do or come take a look for yourselves!

Follow Ups:

Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:
Subject:
Comments:	: I have always wondered z"who is who?" when I hear our screech owl pair calling to each other, and back and forth to other pairs in the neighborhood. Mates definitely call at a different pitch, one lower than the other, but size is hard to tell as I never catch them calling while sitting side by side. So your question made me look it up. I always assumed the much larger females would have the lower and louder call. : : So, your query made me look it up. Paul A. Johnsgard, author of North American Owls (1988) writes, of the eastern screech owl: "males have the lower-pitched voices..." while on great horned owls he cites Austing and Holt (1966), "male calls are more prolonged and elaborate than female calls, as well as being relatively rich, deep and mellow." : : So now we both have our answers. : Jim Duquesnel : : : We had another One Day camp for kids who are out of school today and our nature walk this morning was great.. : : : : Most notable, the Western Tanager we heard singing above us just past our amphitheater to the left. Beautiful male with his 2 distictive wing bars and red face (in the Peterson guide, it mentions he loses the red color in autumn/winter just as this male, he only had red from top of crown to just above his eyes) : : : : We also spotted our Great Horned Owl in his usual spot, atop the strangler fig which is at the end of our trail near canal. The kids were noisy so he flew to a further tree. We were able to locate him again after he started to call. He was sitting with another Great Horned! : : : : P.S. We think we might have a mating pair but are not positive. There DOES seem to be a difference in the pitch of their calls, one being deeper. Anyone who can give us some insight, please do or come take a look for yourselves! :
Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]