Hi tweets -- apropos of recent owl hoot discussion, my father just sent me
the following owl hoot question, from southern Maine:

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Last night I heard an owl hooting, somewhere in the middle of the island.
It went on for some time, around midnight. It was wonderful. I don't think
I've ever heard an owl before.

I tried to identify it from the book (an old Peterson). It was definitely a
hoot, not a screech, so I thought great horned or barred. It repeated the
same pattern: hoot-hoothoothoot-hoothoothoot-hoot. Now the book says a
barred owl is sometimes called an eight-hooter, and there are eight hoots
for you, but, according to Peterson, not in that 1-3-3-1 pattern. The book
seems to say that it should be 2-2 and then another 2-2.

Do you have any owl experts to advise of this? And how do you find an owl?
Do they hoot from the same tree where they live and drop their pellets? Do
they favor conifers over deciduous trees?

Or does one go out and pish? But if I'm a successful pisher, will I be
carried off?

***

What do y'all think? Would this be a female great horned?

Thanks,
Kathleen Hunt