Yesterday morning at about 20 minutes after midnight, I was on my front step letting my dog answer one last call from nature before retiring for the evening.
Across the street, coming from the midst of a typical residential block, came the hoots of a Barred Owl! The call was atypical: rather than the usual who cooks for you, who cooks for you-all, it was more like who cooks for you, who cooks.
Here was a case where familiarity with a bird's tone or general vocal quality was important for making the identification- the hoots were recognizably those of a Barred Owl in clarity, pitch, etc- rather dog-like- even though their cadence was perhaps more like that of a Great Horned. The latter usually gives a call a few phrases shorter than the classic Barred arrangement, but more deep and breath-y.
Residential hoods are not typical Barred habitat, but they do wander into such areas sporadically in the winter. The fact that I am just a few blocks from a pretty woodsy part of the batture probably helps.
I hooted back to it several times (I have been practicing imitating Barred Owls since I was a pre-teen- which is not unusual- it is probably the first owl that most birders learn to copy), and the bird seemed to be trading responses with me. But it never adopted its standard call.
