Owls

In a Beijing green space larger than New York’s Central Park, biologist Bao Weidong is scanning the trees, looking for a shy bird that’s increasingly scarce: the long-eared owl. There used to be dozens of them across the city, but they’re vanishing. On the other side of the city, a wildlife rescue center is working to save other raptors that have run afoul of the city’s many perils. Can the raptors of Beijing stage a comeback, in the face of runaway development? Will the people of Beijing make room for raptors? Image Credit: Asio otus, Piet Reens. CC BY-SA read moreDuration: 5:28Published: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 03:35:39 +0000

Recorded on a north-facing slope with an open forest of Jeffrey pine, sugar pine, white fir, and incense cedar. There are also white alders and canyon live oaks in the area. The bird was perched in a Jeffrey pine at a range of about 30-40 meters. Equipment: Sony PCM-M10 recorder, Sennheiser ME62 microphone, and a Telinga 22 inch parabola. Edits to the file: normalized to -3 dB. bird-seen:no playback-used:yes

I recorded a different bird and only later heard the Owl in the background. bird-seen:no playback-used:no

A male and a female heard calling during the dawn chorus in the middle of winter from a suburban garden on the edge of town. bird-seen:no playback-used:no

Rock Eagle Owl perched on balcony of a old abandoned house in middle of the grassland while calling. bird-seen:yes playback-used:no

This sound was recorded in the night of Monday June 5, 2017 when we were out for a night walk looking for nocturnal primates. It was recorded using an iphone 4, therefore downloaded as an MPEG-4 Audio (.m4a). The only modification made on the audio was to convert it into an mp3 audio using the zamzar free online conversion. The record was neither filtered,nor were the intervals shortened. The record was taken in Nyungwe National Park montane and rain forest, near Kamiranzovu swamp where the bird has been seen several times. The vegetation is a primary forest dominated by Parinari excelsa, Carapa grandiflora, and Strombosia scheffleri. In the same period, the calls of Ruwenzori nightjar, red-chested Owlet, and the tree hyrax were heard; though not included in this record. Even though Nyungwe is a rain forest, it hadn't rained that day (it was already the begenning of a dry season here). Moonlight was shining with clear sky, however, under tall trees, the light was seen only through small canopy gaps. We were not able to observe behavior, plumage, sex, or any other details that required having visualized the bird. The sound is close to that of African Barred Owlet which inhabits other regions of Africa. Ngirababyeyi Venerand (who has worked in the ornithology team in Nyungwe for twenty years now) confirmed without hesitation that this call belongs to the Albertine Owlet. He was with us on the during the night walk when I recorded this bird. He was familiar with that call and knew well that it is made by the Albertine Owlet but had never had a chance to record it. Note also that the call is much louder than in the recording because I used a telephone to record it and I was around 250 meters away! bird-seen:no playback-used:no

Calls from one of two adults, accompanied by a well-grown juvenile that was perched on the opposite of the river (from which much background noise). bird-seen:yes playback-used:no

Whimpery sounds from an adult. Near the lodge grounds at dusk. bird-seen:yes playback-used:no

female and male voices are the same "wuwuwuwu" female is higher "wuwuwuwu" male is lower bird-seen:yes playback-used:no

Upper montane forest bird-seen:no playback-used:no

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Pair located some 200m above lake viewpoint by roadside (latter easily recognizable from long brick wall). bird-seen:yes playback-used:no

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I guess it is a juv call bird-seen:yes playback-used:no

This pair called until past first light. bird-seen:yes playback-used:yes

Distant recording of a Pel's Fishing-Owl at the edge of a Palm Swamp in lowland rainforest. The bird was calling sporadically throughout both of our days at this location. Notes are most audible in this recording at 0:10 and 0:21. bird-seen:no playback-used:no

Registrada dentro de un bosque montano maduro (20-30 m de altura), a esta especie puede escuchársela en este sector todas las noches, principalmente luego de las 21h00 o muy temprano en la mañana Ej. 05h00. La grabación fue realizada en una noche lluviosa. bird-seen:no playback-used:no

Adult warning near an almost fully grown still begging juvenile. Recording is "organic", no alterations made. bird-seen:yes playback-used:no

Recorded with two Primo 172 mics in an urban garden in Amsterdam-Watergraafsmeer (east part of the city), surrounded by houses of 10 meters high. The garden itself is at 5 meter below sea level ... bird-seen:no playback-used:no

Continuous hooting, different to the more typical double hoot. The bird also made a very interesting call, presumably when flying, a cackling “cua cua cua" bird-seen:no playback-used:yes

Song in response to playback from a bird perched about 2m up in understory of 5m tall stunted cloudforest with high Chusquea bamboo component. The bird started singing naturally about 6:30pm, then flew in to us on its own. I prompted this song bout with a single note of playback. bird-seen:yes playback-used:yes [img]