Owl Hoot

Last night a sibling and I went to the 11th Annual Owl Hoot at St. John's Arboretum in Collegeville, MN. I learned about the dozen owl species in our state and what they all sound like. I'm pretty sure that owl that sounded like former govenor, Jesse Ventura, was a barred owl. We learned where to find owls. Our teacher was young, enthusiastic, and a very good naturalist. When the lecture was over, we walked into the woods. The teacher had an owl call. It looked exactly like the duck calls my father had. I thought it sounded just like a duck call too the first time I heard it. A group of 15 of us are out in the woods on campus at 8:15 p.m. We can see fairly well because the moon is bright. It's cold but not terrible. We stand in silence. Every time we shift our feet the snow squeaks. She's calling for barred owls although great greys inhabit the woods too. If she calls for a great gray, the barred owls will be silent because they fear the great grays. If she calls for barred owl, the great greys might answer because they don't fear the barred owl. The barred owl sounds like "No soup for you. No soup for you all." The naturalist called on her owl call. We hear nothing. She told us to watch because sometimes an owl will fly nearby when they hear the call instead of answering. We watch and listen. Nothing happens. She calls once every few minutes. Nothing. I decide that even if we see and hear nothing, I am enjoying being outside in the dark with 15 other people interested in owls. She calls again. A barred owl not very far away answers her call. A couple seconds pass by and another barred owl, off in the distance, answers that call. Our faces show our excitement because we don't want to make any noise. The naturalist calls again. This time both barred owls start making "monkey sounds." They start saying, "Oooh Ooooh Ooooh, Aw Aw Aw Aw!" This is so exciting! The naturalist lets anyone volunteer to use their own voice to call to the owls. Only the two children in the group have the courage to try it. But the owls are silent now and we trudge back to our cars. The naturalist tells us that she has done this walk for seven years and this is the first time owls have answered during the walk. I am thinking about buying a barred owl call. I have barred owls in my neighborhood. I think it would be awesome to talk to them in barred owl language.