The Great Horned Owl has a semitonal hoot. The male and female display musical dimorphism in their hooty duets. Male hooters usually end up somewhere around the human note E, and female hooters sing something like an A. Though there is much tonal variation in owl pairs, female owls are about a fourth above males. Imagine sitting around a campfire in an owl-laden wood with nothing but an acoustic guitar. One could play an E Major chord with the male owl’s melody, and play an A Major Chord with the female’s. Like so:
Actually, it’s almost as though the owls are playing a bass line underneath the guitar chords. The rhythm of their song is similar to “SOS” in Morse Code which goes “dit-dit-dit, dah, dah, dah, dit-dit-dit”.
Great Horned Owls make a host of other sounds besides hoots. They say “Wah! Wah! Ah! Ahh! Ark!” and the owlets whistle. Here is a page of their repertoire.
“Great Horned Owl” by Boird Band
