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Owl Sounds with Becca Rowland
Who-who-whooo knew owl calls could be such a hoot?
© Becky Matsubara
When author and illustrator Becca Rowland first started learning to identify bird calls, they were delighted to discover that owls say more than just ‘who’! In her new book Bird Talk: Hilariously Accurate Ways to Identify Birds by the Sounds They Make, Becca dedicates a whole chapter to the wonderful world of owl calls.
Support for Bird Note is provided by Jim and Birte Falconer — and generous listeners around the world.
BirdNote®
Owl Sounds with Becca Rowland
Written by Ariana Remmel
This is BirdNote.
What does an owl sound like? For a long time, author and illustrator Becca Rowland thought the answer was simple.
Becca Rowland: I guess growing up as a kid, an owl made it one sound like a cow says moo and an owl says who? And like that was it. But very few owls actually make that noise. They have such a wide variety of sounds! They sound like a horse…
[Eastern Screech-Owl]
Like the Eastern Screech-Owl…
Becca Rowland: Or they sound like a kazoo.
[Long-eared Owl]
And that’s the Long-eared Owl
Becca Rowland: Or the Barn Owl, like someone absolutely screaming because they're being murdered. Like it's a terrible noise.
[Barn Owl horrific scream]
These owls are among dozens of entries in Becca’s new book Bird Talk: Hilariously Accurate Ways to Identify Birds by the Sounds They Make.
Becca Rowland: If it sounds like a kettle whistling, it's a snowy owl.
[Snowy Owl]
Becca Rowland: If it sounds like someone learning to play a recorder, it's a Northern Saw-whet Owl.
[Northern Saw-whet Owl]
Becca Rowland: In your head you think “I know what owl sounds like!” And then you learn that you don’t. I love learning things that I thought I knew that were wrong.
[Eastern Screech-Owl]
Learn more about Becca’s book Bird Talk at our website, BirdNote.org. I’m Ariana Remmel.
Support for BirdNote is provided by Jim and Birte Falconer from Seattle, Washington — and generous listeners around the world.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Producer: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Eastern Screech-Owl ML625156332 recorded by Timothy Spahr. Long-eared Owl ML137519 recorded by Gerrit Vyn. Northern Saw-whet Owl ML125346 recorded by Thomas G. Sander. Snowy Owl ML137339 recorded by Philip S. Taylor. American Barn Owl ML356577711 recorded by Chris Wood.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2025 BirdNote October 2025
Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# RowlandB-01-2025-10-30 RowlandB-01
Ariana Remmel
Writer NarratorSights & Sounds
