Two Hoots!

[Barjon]

Earlier this evening, at 1040pm, I heard an Owl of some kind outside in the trees. It had a classic owl-hoot of two-syllables: "Hoo hoo". Then it would be silent for a minute, and then "Hoo hoo" again. This went on for several minutes before falling silent. The commotion also awoke a roosting diurnal bird in the area, and it began to chirp loudly along with the owl, which i thought was quite funny. I think that bird may have been a Robin, but i've never identified an owl before. Can anybody tell me what British owl gives Two Hoots?

[bobbarber]

Hello Barjon, and a warm welcome to WAB I think it could be a male tawney owl, unfortunately we don`t have them here in Ireland...Bob

[Fieldfare95]

Hi barjon, welcome to WAB. I think it would probably be a tawny owl too. You could try listening to the recordings on the RSPB website. Go to the "birds and wildlife" bar at the top and there is like a directory of birds with recordings etc.
Not sure if you know this but when you here the "twit twoo" it is actually two owls, with one calling "twit" and the second one replying "twoo"

[Ukwildlifeo]

I think it is only Tawny owls that call with the owl hoot call, with other calling with shrieks etc

[Cowgirl]

I've always associated the female tawny as screeching a long "Twit" & the male replying "Who, whooooo? " Bit like real life really

[Dogghound]

I agree this is almost certainally tawny owls. Short and long eared owls hoot too although the hoot description rules out Short eared.

[Barjon]

Thanks for the welcome guys.

So i did some reading about the Tawny; and the habitat, time and description all seem to fit.

I found some more hooting on this website:

The theory is that the male Tawny has the deeper hoot, which is what i heard, and the female's reply is more hi-pitched, so i don't think a female was present this time, or at least she wasn't making herself known.

I still haven't heard the exact call i remember. I shall have to hope it visits again and gives another performance.

I think i can safely rule-out the long-eared owl because it had more than one syllable to its call.

I'm pretty sure it must be a male Tawny. Now how the heck do i see one?

[thebeard]

I'm pretty sure it must be a male Tawny. Now how the heck do i see one?

with great difficultly unless its at night! if you know where they roost you can sometimes see them around dusk but they're mostly nocturnal. i've never seen one by day, always at night in urban areas

[Dogghound]

My advice for seeing one in the day is to have a very thorough look around your local area, in trees. They especially like to sit on a branch against the trunk. Less often in the open in the middle of a branch. They are very hard to see but if you look carefully its possible. I am lucky as we have a large population here and I often see them. As the beard says hanging around at dawn and dusk may help you see birds "in action". If you get lucky and see one its worth returning to where you have seen it and it may be there on another occasion they often use the same perch over a long time, I have found two regular birds this year that use a regular perch and a third bird which is seen less often at a regular perch.

[Barjon]

Excellent advice, thank you.