ML431406311
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Immature Unknown sex - 3
- Behaviors
- Feeding young
- Sounds
- Call
- Playback
- Playback not used
Media notes
Uninterrupted sequence of about 10 minutes. Chitters and hisses. Chitters come I think from both nestlings and adult(s). Two types of chitters: the brief bursts heard through all of the recordings, plus extended "woodpecker-like series" between 7:36 and 8:29. Two visits are made (metallic sounds, about 2:15 and 9:36) suggesting to me that both parents had visited (possible same parent caught two prey items in about 7 minutes). Bill snaps are also audible at 3:44.6.
Observation details
See checklist S106136023 for photo. See checklist S106138479 for additional audio. Confirmed nest with three (possibly four) offspring. One noticeably larger than other two (see Checklist S106136023 for photo). No more than one adult observed at a time but presumed two adults feeding young given frequency of sounds made by parents coming in under barn eaves. Main barn doors were open at north and south ends of the barn but the parent owls instead came and went through the overhanging eave on the east side of the barn. Barn is newer, fabricated barn with metal siding and roof. The east side of the barn has a loft. Several large, rectangular bales of hay have been left in the loft. The nest is located between two bales (about 30 cm between bales) and on top of lower bales. Parents were never observed to come to the gap in from of the bales but instead seemed to go to the top of the bales and feed the owlets from above. Some vocalizations are almost certainly from the owls but are not reported in Pieplow nor the Cornell Guide to Bird Sounds. Good examples can be heard in ML431407251 between 27-45 seconds. The sound is centered around 500-2000 Hz, a sort of wheezy moan. I cannot rule out sheep that were present as the source of this sound (not up on my sheep vocalizations). The screechy/hissy calls are probably begging calls from the young. The chitters and other chitter-like vocalizations are from the young for sure when parents are absent but may also be from parents when they bring food. It was too dark in barn to be certain.
Technical information
- Recorder
- Sound Devices MixPre-3
- Microphone
- Sennheiser ME62 Shotgun
- Accessories
- Telinga 22" Parabola
- Original file size
- 140.05 MB