Twelve Owls

Barred Owl

W ho cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all? Birdwatchers often use mnemonic tricks to help them recognize birdcalls. In most cases, people don’t settle on just one choice. Does a White-throated Sparrow sing “Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody” or “Oh, sweet Canada , Canada, Canada”? Does a flying goldfinch call out “perchickory, perchickory” or “potato chip, potato chip”? We choose phrases that suggest the rhythm of the notes whether or not they make meaningful sense. Even though “Hey, sweetie!” fits both the rhythm of a Black-capped Chickadee’s whistled song and the context in which it’s used, many birders still remember the song as “fee-be-be” or “cheeseburger.” The one birdcall that virtually everyone remembers by the same mnemonic is the Barred Owl’s “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?” The rhythm is right, and although the words are nonsensical, they somehow sound perfect. Poet Richard Wilbur described this mnemonic in his poem “A Barred Owl”: Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear, Can also thus domesticate a fear, And send a small child back to sleep at night Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw. Barred Owls have several other vocalizations, including a deeper, slowly ascending “hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hooaw !” They often give the final, down-slurred “hoo-aw!” as a separate call. Females are larger than males, but the vocal apparatus of males is larger, producing a deeper sound. Once a calling pair has drawn close together, they often break into a duet sounding like maniacal laughter or monkeys at play. Some Barred Owls may also make this sound while subduing larger prey animals. Barred Owls are more vocal than other Minnesota owls, and their calls have been recorded in the state during every month of the year, though most frequently in February and March. They are also more likely to call during daylight hours than other owls. Within moments BarredOwl • 49 • 50 • Ba rred Ow l of hatching, young Barred Owls start making a squeaky, hissing begging call. For the next four months, they will make that sound whenever they’re hungry, while their parents continue to hoot occasionally. Birders often try to draw in owls by imitating their voices. The Barred Owl’s hoots are fairly easy for our voices to mimic, but their “monkey calls” are harder. During the early part of the breeding season, they answer our calls more readily than most owls. Once they are busy with young in late May and June, it may take many minutes for them to respond. But patience is rewarded ; often they fly in to look at us before they make a sound. Calling in Barred Owls draws their attention away from their nests and young, possible meals, and potential predators, so bothering a pair more than once a season is inconsiderate. Only two Minnesota owls have brown eyes: the Barn Owl, which is extremely rare here, and the common and widespread Barred Owl. In both species the iris is so dark that except at very close range it is usually impossible to see where iris ends and pupil begins. Barn Owls belong to an entirely different family than all other North American owls and share little else in common with Barred Owls except the first three letters of their names. Scientists do not understand why these owls have brown eyes, nor why most owls have yellow eyes. Many, but far from all, birds of prey have yellow or orange irises, and some hawks change eye color over the course of their lives, so it is doubtful that eye color has any significant Ba rred Ow l • 51 effect on vision. Songbirds seem to key in on yellow eyes when recognizing owls and cats. In the case of Barred Owls, which frequently hunt for food for their young in daytime during the time of year when parent songbirds are especially vigilant, their brown eyes might give them some relief from being bombarded by mobbing birds. On the other hand, the closely related Great Gray Owl hunts even more frequently by day yet has bright yellow eyes, and the brown-eyed Barn Owl is strictly nocturnal and spends virtually every day hidden from most birds. It’s fitting that a group of birds mythologized for...