I’ve been reading this book about owls – these mysterious birds of the night. In “What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds”, Jennifer Ackerman writes that owl calls aren’t just “simple” hoots. They’re really complex. Researchers are learning that owls communicate everything from their needs and desires, to specifics about their individual identity.

“Owls can recognize one another by voice alone,” writes Ackerman.

I don’t totally know why, but that blows my mind. Maybe it’s because I’ve encountered so few of these birds in my life.

On a snowy night this spring, I hoped to change that. I went to the woods to try to talk to barred owls, with the help of a few birders.

Credits:
Host/Producer: Dan Wanschura
Editor: Morgan Springer
Additional Editing: Peter Payette, Ellie Katz, Claire Keenan-Kurgan
Audio Assistance: Matthew Mikkelsen
Special Thanks: Quinn Sommer, Brad Von Blon

Transcript:
DAN WANSCHURA, HOST: This is Points North, a podcast about the land, water, and inhabitants of the Great Lakes. I’m Dan Wanschura.

I’ve been reading this book about owls. These mysterious birds of the night. Owl calls aren’t just “simple” hoots. They’re really complex. Researchers are learning that owls communicate everything from their needs and desires, to specifics about their individual identity.

The author says, “Owls can recognize one another by voice alone.”

I don’t totally know why, but that blows my mind. Maybe it’s because I’ve encountered so few owls in my life. Tonight, I’m hoping to change that. It’s mid-March. There’s about three feet of new snow on the ground.

WANSCHURA: Snow kinda looks like a light blue in this twilight. Trees are all, like, dark shadows right now. It’s still pretty light because of all the snow, but.

WANSCHURA: I’m headed into the woods with a couple guys. Our goal is to call in a barred owl using our voices.

(sounds of walking in snow)

WANSCHURA: Can you describe where we are right now?

KIERAN FLEMING:  Yeah. We're in a hemlock dominated river bottom … with the Minnehaha Creek flowing through it. … And we have a ridge going up the hill, each side of us that’s hardwoods. … And there should be owls here. The question's always gonna be, will they cooperate. 

WANSCHURA: Kieran Fleming leads the Little Traverse Conservancy, a land trust in northern Michigan. We’re on one of their properties.

WANSCHURA:  And the idea is if they're at the top of the ridge, they would be able to hear us from either direction.

FLEMING: That's my logic. I don't know that that's necessarily good logic. The argument could be made that they'd hear us better if we were up on top of the hill, but…mostly I like the river.

(sounds of Minnehaha Creek)

WANSCHURA: Yeah, should we give it a try? Who wants to let her rip?

FLEMING: I thought you were gonna do this?

WANSCHURA: Oh no. No, you guys gotta model it for me.

FLEMING: Ok. … So basically it’s– the old way of describing a barred owl call is, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for ya’ll?” And so it’s basically eight syllables and sounds a little bit like this.

FLEMING: (barred owl call)

NATE CRANE: (barred owl call)

FLEMING: That’s better than mine.

WANSCHURA: What did you say?

FLEMING: That’s better than my call.

WANSCHURA: The guy with the “better” call is Nate Crane. A bigtime birder.

CRANE: (barred owl call)

WANSCHURA: Barred owls are about the size of a crow. They’re mostly brown and white and have these bar-like stripes across their feathers. That’s how they got their name.

CRANE: I’m gonna come over here and look that way. They'll often fly in without announcing themselves and will pose sometimes for minutes, sometimes they'll never call back, but they'll be interested. The trick is to get them interested. 

WANSCHURA: What, what is that, “Who cooks for you” call? What is that communicating?

CRANE: I think that’s just a territorial statement. You know, a presence that they’re here. … But I don’t think they’re here.

FLEMING: You should try your call here because you can't scare them away. 

WANSCHURA: Okay. Alright. That's a good, that's a good point. So who's, who's gonna teach me up here? What's the…

FLEMING: Did you hear that? 

WANSCHURA: What was that?

(distant noises)

CRANE: Those are coyotes, or– not a bird. Porcupine, I think maybe. Porcupines make weird stuff. 

(distant noises)

FLEMING: You wanna go to another spot, Nate?

CRANE: I think that’d be a good idea.

FLEMING: Ok.

WANSCHURA: You think they’d be hitting by now if they’re around here?

CRANE:  They're normally very responsive– that's why they're the funnest ones to call in. You know, they'll just come charging in, all excited.

(walking sounds)

FLEMING: Dan, you gotta do it if you’re gonna…WANSCHURA:  I'm feeling like a little nervous. Like performance anxiety here in front of you? 

FLEMING: Everybody turn around. 

CRANE:  I mean, I guess my suggestion when I do it as, as we've been snowshoeing, I'm like, “How do I do that?” So I lift my tongue up, so the back of my tongue is pressed against my rear molars, and I lift the tip of my tongue up – not to the roof of my mouth – but elevated. And then it's kind of like in your diaphragm, a controlled cough. And then, and then you just kind of go from there. 

(barred owl call)

WANSCHURA: So do that one more for me.

CRANE: Like you can feel it in your body. 

WANSCHURA: Yeah, ok. Wait for this car to pass.

(car sounds)

WANSCHURA: So, tongue on the back of your molars.

CRANE: Yeah.

WANSCHURA: (barred owl call)

CRANE:  You're natural. 

FLEMING: That was very good. 

WANSCHURA: I think I did, “Who cooks for you all? Who cooks for you all?” 

CRANE: But that works 

FLEMING: A lot of times if they're responding, you know, you're just trying to spark 'em. 

WANSCHURA: You don’t have to be precise.

FLEMING: You don't have to be great, yeah.

CRANE: And have it come out of your chest a little bit more.

WANSCHURA: Yeah. It's kind of throaty right now. 

CRANE: Yeah. You're kind of all up in this area and like try to get it like right down here. 

WANSCHURA: Little, little deeper. 

FLEMING: Try to mean it. Do it with meaning.

WANSCHURA: (barred owl call)

FLEMING: The last part you can take that in the outtakes. 

CRANE: That would definitely work. 

FLEMING: Yeah. 

CRANE: I think you need to lead off the next spot. 

WANSCHURA: Okay. 

FLEMING: For sure.

(sound of truck approaching)

UNIDENTIFIED DRIVER: You guys alright?

CRANE: We’re calling owls.

DRIVER: What’s that?

CRANE: We’re calling for barred owls.

UNIDENTIFIED DRIVER: Ha, nerds! Awesome. Have fun!

(sounds of truck driving away)

WANSCHURA: Barred owls are common throughout the Great Lakes and beyond. And their population has been steadily going up for decades. It helps that these owls will eat just about anything: squirrels, mice, birds, frogs, fish, even bugs – they’re all fair game. Once they’re done digesting their meal … they throw up whatever’s left in the form of a pellet. All owls do this.

Also like all owls, barred owls are elusive. So, we change our strategy to a run and gun approach. That means driving around a bunch of forested backroads. Hopping in and out of the truck, trying to call an owl to the edge of the woods. And lots of chatting in between.

FLEMING:  You know, we talk about this all the time…and the general belief is that if more people just have a more grounded, real experience in nature, you know, throughout whatever means, whether it's the owl prowl or it's hunting or fishing…it lights a spark, you know? And, and that changes how you look at the world. …And you know, appreciating all of this is really important because if you don't connect with it, you don't make decisions the same way. You don't think about it the same way. 

WANSCHURA: Yeah.

WANSCHURA:  How much have you practiced your, barred owl call, Nate? 

CRANE: Well, I mean, it started out with practice and then it just– I've been doing it for like 30 years. So I don't have to dust it off too much, can usually just– no warmup required. But it's a little taxing on the vocal cords. I can feel my quality tapering off.

WANSCHURA: And did you just do it by listening to a call online or something?

CRANE: You know, there was a– one of my birding mentors growing up, his name was Bob Carstens. And, uh…

FLEMING: I know Bob. 

CRANE: You remember Bob? 

FLEMING: I knew Bob, yeah. 

CRANE: Legend. And he taught me barred owl call and great horned owl. Now Bob was like 6’4” and a bass. So, a bass can always do a great horned owl, but a tenor can't. So for me it doesn't really go anywhere. But he, man, he's the best person I've ever met calling in an owl. He could call in anything at any time of the day.

WANSCHURA: After an hour and a half of searching, we end up on the side of a frozen road, peering into a dark, cedar swamp.

(truck doors closing, footsteps crunching on icy road)

CRANE: (barred owl calls)

(barred owl calling back)

WANSCHURA: Ok, we got one. It’s calling back.

CRANE: (barred owl calls)

(barred owl calling back)

CRANE: Sometimes they’ll come barging in, and this was kind of a classic slide in. I heard it land in that eastern hemlock, and so it’s kinda been keeping an eye on us and finally started to talk. And it’s not gonna stop, ‘cause it thinks there’s another owl here. We could probably try to get a light on it.

(barred owls caterwauling)

CRANE: Got–

WANSCHURA: Holy cow!  

CRANE: They’re caterwauling now. We got two of them. 

WANSCHURA: No way!

CRANE: This is awesome. Oh yeah!

WANSCHURA: What does it feel like to talk to them? It’s like you’re talking to a bird.

CRANE: Oh yeah, it gives me goosebumps every time. It never gets old. And I’ve been doing this a long time.

CRANE: (barred owl calls)

(barred owls caterwauling)

CRANE:  And that's all pair bonding. They're caterwauling. This is their territory. And I'm this lone rogue owl that got out of their territory. And so they're trying to show me this is theirs gonna keep moving on. Probably have a fidelity to each other and they come back to the same spot every year, and, yeah, they’re just– they’re a team now defending their own turf.

(barred owl call)

CRANE:  I think they've quieted down now. I wasn't convincing enough, but it worked.

CRANE: Well, that was pretty awesome.

FLEMING: Sounds like beers on Dan.

FLEMING: That was awesome. 

WANSCHURA: That was really cool.

FLEMING: I mean he was right there.

CRANE: So, I think the female was back there and came to join in. I mean, it's so cool to get a pair of cater walls together, you know, that doesn't happen every day. 

WANSCHURA:  Still got it, Nate. 

CRANE: Still got it, man. 

CRANE: And from a birding standpoint, this is the most satisfying. 

WANSCHURA: Yeah. 

CRANE: When it's like, oh yeah, we got the birds. The time and effort was worth it. 

WANSCHURA: Yeah. 

CRANE: We're going home late, but we got the barred owl. 

WANSCHURA: I was kinda convinced that we weren’t gonna, weren’t gonna get one.

WANSCHURA: In that book I’ve been reading about owls, there’s some newer research about how owls process sound. Some of it happens in the visual part of their brains. That means owls might actually get an optical image of a sound. I didn’t get to see these birds. But I got something that’s maybe even better – sounds to imagine them by. Later that night when I finally got in bed, I lay wide awake, unable to stop thinking about them.