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The Striped Owl: A Yelling Owl
An owl with a wide repertoire of sounds
© Corinne Benavides
Striped Owls are known for their diverse vocalizations. Their repertoire includes deep hoots, eerie screeches, and a range of calls that help give an otherworldly ambiance to tropical rainforests from Southern Mexico all the way to Argentina. Despite their eeriness, in many local cultures, Striped Owls are believed to bring luck to those who encounter them — so consider yourself lucky if you spot one.
Listen to this episode in Spanish here.
BirdNote®
The Striped Owl: A Yelling Owl
Written by Lucina Melesio
This is BirdNote.
[Screech]
Hear that call echoing through the trees?
[Screech]
Sounds like a bird of prey, right? And it's night time.
[Screech]
It’s an owl! The Striped Owl, to be exact. “Clamator,” the species name in Latin, means “yeller”. And yes, you guessed it, this owl has a distinctive striped pattern.
Our striped hunter makes quite a fashion statement. Along with the stripes goes a pair of large ear tufts that for a second might look like a cat’s. The face is a creamy disk rimmed with black, almost like a mask.
But when it comes to nesting, Striped Owls like to keep it simple. A hollow in a tree, an abandoned woodpecker hole, or even a cozy nook in a dense vine are perfect accommodations for these fashionistas. No need to bother with building intricate nests.
[Striped Owl calls]
Striped Owls are known for their diverse vocalizations. Their repertoire includes deep hoots, eerie screeches, and a range of calls that help give an otherworldly ambiance to tropical rainforests from Southern Mexico all the way to Argentina.
Despite their eeriness, in many local cultures, Striped Owls are believed to bring luck to those who encounter them … so consider yourself lucky if you spot one.
For BirdNote, I’m Lucina Melesio.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Striped Owl ML576989561 recorded by Eric Barbato, Striped Owl ML294221321 recorded by Simón Guadagnini, and Striped Owl ML185467751 recorded by Anderson Sandro.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote November 2023
Narrator: Lucina Melesio
ID# STRO-01-2023-11-07 STRO-01
Lucina Melesio
Writer Narrator