Zvuky Prahy / Sounds of Prague

terénní nahrávky, zvukové umění, rádio, zvukové procházky
field recordings, sound art, radio, sound walks

Tawny owl in Modřanská rokle

Tags: birds night
Creator: laso (Stanislav Abrahám)
Submitted: 2017-05-22
Recorded: 2017-05-22
Licence: Creative Commons Licence

The commonly heard female contact call is a shrill, kew-wick but the male has a quavering advertising song hoo...ho, ho, hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo. William Shakespeare used this owl's song in Love's Labour's Lost (Act 5, Scene 2) as "Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit; Tu-who, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot", but this stereotypical call is actually a duet, with the female making the kew-wick sound, and the male responding hooo. (Wiki)