nico1908 | Exciting discovery in our yard

The past couple of weeks I've been hearing this strange call at dusk and dawn; it sounded like a turtle dove, but much, much louder.

This afternoon, while I was outside weeding my flowerbeds, I heard it again. It was coming from somewhere up in a tree, so I sat very still and looked around - and there it was! An OWL! I was so excited! I love owls. They are such beautiful birds (although they make a lot of noise, let me tell you!).

I got up and got my husband to show him the bird. When she noticed that she was being observed, she took off to another tree. Not wanting to disturb her further, I went back to my weeding and Le Husband went back to his computer. I heard her call only once after that... I hope I didn't scare her off!

Anyhoo... I did some research on the Web and found out that we have five species of owls in Florida: Great Horned, Barn, Burrowing, Screech, and Barred Owl. I think "our" owl is a Barred Owl. The hoo-hoo-hoo-hoooooo call I've been hearing sounds very similar to the sound recordings on this Web page - which, among other things, states that "(t)he primary territorial location or advertisement call for the Barred Owl is often described as 'Who cooks for you; Who cooks for you all?' (...)" :D - and the shape and size of the bird in the tree fits the description.

I so hope I didn't scare her off!!!!

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