Yesterday morning, while it was still pitch dark outside, I heard a bird call. Then, I heard a Great Horned Owl hooting. I soon had a mystery on my hands.

I had left the door open a crack because it was cooler outside than inside, and it felt wonderful. Sitting in front of my laptop near the door, I was working on my site when I heard a strange bird call that I didn’t recognize, followed soon after by the call of a Great Horned Owl.

I grabbed my phone, turned on my Merlin app, opened the door wider, and began to record the calls. I wanted to identify the bird call that I didn’t recognize.

In just seconds, I heard what sounded like the Great Horned Owl attacking the mystery bird that was making the other call.

Take a listen to what I heard. You may need to turn your device volume way up to hear it.

Wow, it sounded like that bird who had been making the odd call was a goner to me!

I got curious. I wanted to identify the call I had heard so I shared the audio file I had created to the American Birding Association’s Facebook group “What’s This Bird” and to iNaturalist.

I got the answer I needed from my iNaturalist submission of the audio file. So what was the bird making the strange calls?

A young Great Horned Owl!

Great Horned Owl in Tamarisk looking right at me on Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, UtahGreat Horned Owl

I’m guessing that what sounded like the Great Horned Owl attacking the other bird was actually a parent bringing food to their young.

The sounds are consistent with what I have heard in the field when adult Great Horned Owls have brought food to their young in the nest. I’d just forgotten those sounds since I heard them last in 2008! My memory has been rebooted and reactivated.

It was too dark to photograph the owls, so instead, I am sharing an older image of a Great Horned Owl I found and photographed at Antelope Island State Park in the fall of 2011.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to view more of my Great Horned Owl photos plus facts and information about this species.