I am what's known as the Barking owl because my call sounds so much like a dog. I have also been referred to by you humans as the Winking owl. I have no idea why so don't ask.

My male is off securing food for us today so I have been elected to tell you a little bit about us. We are medium-sized and brown in color and have large brillant yellow eyes. Our forehead, neck, and face range from light to dark sandy brown. Our back and wings are brown with large white spots. Our breast and belly are white and streaked in brown and our bill is blackish. Also unlike some of our other relatives my male and I are very close in size. As I mentioned before my call sounds a lot like a dog barking I guess you humans would say like "wuf wuf".

We like to talk to one another this way and can actually carry on conversations for several minutes. We are also famous for our "screaming woman" call which you humans describe as one of terrifying intensity. We don't use it very often so don't worry about hearing it.

We prefer to hunt earlier in the evening or later in the morning and our appetites lean towards birds. We like sparrows, magpie larks, parrots, laughing kookaburra (and you thought that was just a song about a made up bird), White Cockatoos and ducks. We also like rabbits, possums and rodents. We usually have our babies between July and September and lay 2-3 eggs. It takes about 36 days for me to hatch my eggs and then they usually stay with us for several months.

We like the open country with a lot of large tall trees sometimes as high as 100 ft. Some of us prefer swamps and we really like the water and try and bathe every day. We also for some unknown reason have become accustomed to you humans and sometimes nest close to farm buildings and even in streets in towns. We like to hang out mostly in Northern Australia but have been spotted in Eastern New Guinea.

Well I hope you have learned a little more about us than you knew before. Remember now, we seem to trust you humans so please don't give us any reason to change that feeling.

The Barking Owl

Barking Owl Photo

..and for more...

Burrowing Owl
Boreal Owl
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