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Comment by mikeyouse | Hacker News Reader

I'm in the upper Midwest and heard a pleasant owl "hooting" last night, but it was interspersed with just an awful squawk noise. My partner thought that other noise might be a juvenile owl, is that something others have heard of? I'll download that birdnet to see if they can confirm but it was just such a striking noise.

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Nextdoor.com is great for this- the local wildlife threads on there are always so interesting. Turns out a lot of my neighbors are bird nerds and chances are yours might be hearing and maybe even have photos or webcam videos of the same owls.

There's a giant thread over a pair of Golden Eagles that nested in a tree behind our house and raised three chicks. I was feeding sparrows & nuthatches on my deck and it made me wonder if I was just setting up a nice little prey bait station for the eagles as I noticed them circling overhead one day while doing yoga.

Maybe a screech owl? https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Screech-Owl/soun...

Barred owl calls also can be a bit squawky/jarring: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_Owl/sounds

I bet it was a barred owl from what I've been reading -- not exactly like anything on that sounds page but similar enough I think they're related.

Barred Owls can make a terrifying squawk/yell/howl noise! Juveniles will make the noises as well to call to their parents. I heard a family of 5 BAOW this past summer (also upper Midwest here) and got to observe them all communicating and the parents hunting around dusk. It was magical and I got to hear these owl calls in the wild.

I've definitely seen barred owls in the area, so I bet that was it. Thanks for the tip, magical is a great way to describe it. Actually turned off the TV / lights last night when we heard them calling and just sat in the dark and listened.

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