{"id":11077,"date":"2022-05-02T15:56:46","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T20:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/?p=11077"},"modified":"2022-08-16T05:01:16","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T10:01:16","slug":"birds-that-sound-like-owls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.forestwildlife.org\/birds-that-sound-like-owls\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Birds That Sound Like Owls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever thought you heard an owl hooting<\/a> during the daytime? Or perhaps you\u2019ve heard high-pitched bird calls at night and simply assumed an owl was making them, even if the sounds didn\u2019t have the classic \u201choot-hoot<\/em>\u201d rhythm. In this article, we\u2019re going to talk about some of the birds that sound like owls \u2013 turns out, there are more of them than you might expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Mourning Dove<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Mourning
Mourning Dove<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Audubon has this helpful article<\/a> containing sound clips of the mourning dove\u2019s call along with that of several owls. As you can tell, different owls have different sounds they make, but all are relatively high-pitched and have multiple syllables. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is probably why the mourning dove is so frequently mistaken for an owl, even though it is most active during the day and owls are more active at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though mourning doves aren\u2019t nocturnal, they do occasionally sing after dark or before sunrise, leading to even more confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mourning dove makes a haunting, melodic \u201chooooo-hoo-hoo-hoo\u201d<\/em> sound. This call is highly distinctive once you learn to recognize it and tell it apart from the calls of owls, which tend to be more of an abrupt \u201choot-hoot-hoot\u201d sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Other Doves<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many types of doves produce a lilting, cooing sort of sound that people often confuse with the hooting of an owl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, most doves are more active in the day, while owls are more likely to be heard at night. That said, it isn\u2019t uncommon to hear doves singing after dark, so it\u2019s not always possible to tell dove and owl calls apart simply by the time of day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doves are generally more common in populated areas; owls often live further away from humans, so they are not as commonly heard as doves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you hear a bird call that sounds similar to that of an owl, see if you can identify the bird making the sound. Depending on where you live, you\u2019ll find that the sound is most often produced by a much smaller songbird and not necessarily an owl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Whip-Poor-Will<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Whip-poor-wills are very commonly confused for owls because of the high-pitched trilling sound they make. Have a listen in the video below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jIxfVSS_65o<\/a>