Owls

[Patco]

As mentioned in a Coyote forum, there is at least one account of an owl attack on a human. Almost every night in the mountains I hear owls up in the hollers and someone needs to tell me what kind makes this call: (it resembles a chimpanzee) [softly] oooo-ahhhh ooo-ahhhh [a little louder] hooo-hooo-hooo-ooooo-ahhhhh (then once they are answered and the conversation gets really going the volume is blasted) HOOO-AHHH AH-AH AH-AH AH-AH HA-HA HA-HA HAAAAAA! Once in the Pisgah forest we were enjoying our campfire and an owl swooped into the camp and lit in a tree just over our heads. It looked around a bit then silently swooped on down the ravine. At 3 AM they lit over my tent and went to screeching at each other like bloody murder. Is this a screech owl by chance?

[rainmaker]

It's a Barred Owl. Wonderful creatures. You should hear them during mating season. Then again , maybe you did.

[Patco]

That is 100% it - on the nose! I searched and found audio of the Barred Owl call and you were on the money.
This opens up in the QuickTime player on my system but y'all check out this link:

http://internetter.com/audio/Birds/barred_owl.mov

Goofy birds!

Thanks.