webenda wrote:NJPiney wrote:Beautiful Barred Owl. They are a threatened species here in NJ
Thank you for identifying the owl NJ. Have you ever heard one? Sometimes they sound like they are trying to crow like a rooster.
Who, Hooot-a-whooooooouu, sounds like ****, Cock-a-dooooooouu, to me.
NOTE--the "u" is pronounced as in flute but the sound is held twice as long.
I've heard them quite a few times and your description is spot-on. Before my current job I worked for an environmental consultant firm and one of the services we provided for developers was state-mandated endangered species searches before a project could progress. We would go out at night with a tape recorder and broadcast owl calls at appropriate wetland habitats. If an owl responded we broke the bad news to the developer. It meant the buffer of land to be left undisturbed around the wetland had to be increased by a specified amount. I some cases, if the project acreage was small enough, the increased wetland buffer might eliminate the project. The state has an active land acquisition program and some of these tracts might then be purchased and public preserved land.
