Barred Owl Call / Sounds

The barred owl is a powerful vocalist, with an array of calls that are considered "fantastic, loud, and emphatic". Calls probably carry well over 0.8 km. Its usual call is a series of eight accented hoots or the "typical two-phrase hoot" with a downward pitch at the end. 

Due to its best-known call, the barred owl is sometimes colloquially referred to as Old Eight-Hooter. Another call type is the "mumble", a grumbling, slurred, and subtle an up-and-down "twitter" calls at a high pitch. When agitated, this species will make a buzzy, rasping hiss about three times in three seconds, repeating every 10–30 seconds, and will click its beak together forcefully. 

The voice of the two sexes is similar, but the female has a higher-pitched voice with longer terminal notes. While calls are most common at night, the birds do call during the day as well, especially when provoked by human playback or imitation. They are more responsive than any hawk in the east to playback of calls of their own species. 

The barred owl is noisy in most seasons but peak vocalization times for barred owls tend to be between late January and early April. Two seasonal peaks in vocalizations, one right before breeding and another after the young have dispersed, with peak vocalizations on nights with extensive cloud cover. Peak times for vocalizations are between 6:00 pm and 6:00 am, with the least frequent vocalizations around mid-afternoon.

The barred owl also known as the northern barred owl, striped owl or, more informally, hoot owl, is a North American large species of owl. A member of the true owl family, Strigidae. Barred owls are largely native to eastern North America, but have expanded their range to the west coast of North America where they are considered invasive. Their diet consists mainly of small mammals, but this species is an opportunistic predator and is known to prey upon other small vertebrates such as birds, reptiles, and amphibians, as well as a variety of invertebrates. Barred owls are brown to gray overall, with dark striping on the underside. 

Barred owls have typical nesting habits for a true owl, tending to raise a relatively small brood often in a tree hollow or snag (but sometimes also in other nesting sites) in forested areas. As a result of the barred owl's westward expansion, the species has begun to encroach on the range of the related and threatened spotted owl. Evidence shows the assorted threats posed by the invading barred species are only increasing. In response, biologists have recommended culling operations to mitigate the negative effect of the barred on the spotted owl species.