# Hoo? Who? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 9, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoo-who/367970 "2006-08-09T05:03:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoo-who/367970/1 "2006-08-09T05:03:50Z")
Whilst walking the [World’s Cutest Dog, Clover](http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i285/savannah_sobriquet/PDRM4779.jpg) , tonight, we heard a strange sound from the woods. A neighbour says it’s an owl, but what owl? It almost sounds like a “barking”, but there’s a definite “hoo” sound, and a pattern: hoo hoo hoo HOO hoo hoo HOO hoo hoo… And repeat. Less “birdy”, a lot more “barky”, almost like a high dog bark, except, you know… Hoo-ey. I’ve listened to all the North American owl sounds [here,](http://www.owling.com/index.html) but none are what I heard tonight. I’m in Victoria, BC (Mill Hill Park area, to be specific). ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoo-who/367970/2 "2006-08-09T05:49:31Z")
Ah, more Googling with persistence: it appears to be (or sounds to be) a [a Great Horned Owl.](http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Bubo&species=virginianus) > [@](#): > > Their call is a series of deep hoots, from 3 to 8 notes long, and sounds like - “Whose Awake, Me Too”, with the “Me Too” part descending in tone or who-who-ah-whoo, who-ah-whoo. > [@](#): > > The male’s resonant territorial call “hoo-hoo hoooooo hoo-hoo” can be heard over several miles during a still night. > [@](#): > > Most of us have heard the sonorous “whoo whoo whoo,” of the great horned owl, but it makes other sounds as well, like the cries resembling a barking dog Gotta be it! When I first heard the calls, I actually thought it was a dog barking on the other side of the woods, until I heard the pattern it in. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoo-who/367970/3 "2006-08-09T08:02:05Z")
Yep, I will for sure take a back seat to \*\*Colibri \*\* here, but you are definitely describing the call of the Great Horned Owl, or so I’ve been told al my life growing up and living in, the South. We say this as sorta: “Hoo, Hoo, Hoo…HOY-eye!” ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoo-who/367970/4 "2006-08-09T08:03:52Z")
dang, wish we could edit these posts… I meant “Hoo, Hoo, Hoo…HOO-eye!” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoo-who/367970/5 "2006-08-09T14:43:08Z")
I was visiting my friend in her cabin this weekend and we heard a noise which I assumed was a dog barking. She said “Dog or owl?” which up until then I didn’t know were the choices. It sounded like a dog when we listened closer, but later in the evening heard the owl “barking” you mention. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hoo-who/367970/6 "2006-08-10T02:24:24Z")
Heard it again! Early tonight, 7 pm, and well light out. Mr. Owl! Or Ms. Owl. Hm. Next walk we’ll have to take through the park so we can see if we can see it.