Listen to the great horned owl
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the great horned owl
The great horned owl is a bird in the family Strigidae (order Strigiformes). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “least concern”. Adults have a wingspan of about 134 cm.
What does the great horned owl sound like?
Birds produce sound with the syrinx, a vocal organ deep in the chest that can make two independent sounds at once. Songs tend to be long and patterned and are used to hold territory and attract a mate; calls are short signals for contact, alarm and flight.
The recordings here are labelled as call, song and begging call. Listen for differences in rhythm, pitch and repetition – the spectrum display makes it easy to see whether a sound is a pure whistle (a thin line), a harsh call (a broad band) or a trill (rapid repeated marks).
From Wikipedia
The great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air") or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extremely adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas. Its diet consists primarily of rabbits and hares, rats and mice, and voles; it remains one of the few regular predators of skunk. Hunting also includes rodents, larger mid-sized mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates.
Related birds in the genus Bubo
More from the family Strigidae
Frequently asked questions
What does a great horned owl sound like?
You can hear 4 recordings of the great horned owl on this page, including its call, song and begging call. Birds produce sound with the syrinx, a vocal organ deep in the chest that can make two independent sounds at once.
Is the great horned owl endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the great horned owl as “least concern”.
What family does the great horned owl belong to?
The great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) belongs to the family Strigidae in the order Strigiformes.
Sources & credits
- Bubo virginianus - Great Horned Owl by Bushman – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call · Anderson Township (near Cincinnati), Hamilton County… by Michael & Katie LaTour – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Song · Glacial Lakes State Park, Pope County, Minnesota, United… by Jonathon Jongsma – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Begging call, call · McMaster Forest (near Hamilton), Hamilton Division… by Rob Porter – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q81515 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Great horned owl – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by brendan.lally – CC BY 2.0