Who Dey?
Yes, I am a Bengals fan and love their "Who Dey" chant...I also am a huge Barred Owl fan. On one of my workshops last year the boat captain, Ron, pulled out a speaker and played an “APP” with a Barred Owl recording. Within what seemed only seconds, a Barred Owl appeared on a tree on the other side of the channel. It then flew to a tree right beside the boat to see “Who Dey”...think they are intruding on my territory. When the owl discovered our ruse, it was apparently not amused and gave us “the look” before flying away.
We have some local Barred Owls that live in the trees in the schoolyard close to our property. Determined to duplicate this ruse for a photo opportunity, I downloaded “the APP” and got a “bluetooth” speaker. I sat on my back porch playing with the APP and speaker only to look up and see a huge Barred Owl swooping towards my face only about 10 feet away and land in the tree over my head. Rats! I missed the shot while fiddling with “the APP”. The owl flew off. Later I saw it fly over the house to the front yard. I called the Editor and we moved to the front yard where I set up the speaker again and within seconds a pair of Barred Owls were on the limb of one of our trees staring down at us. Click...Got a few photos this time. Then the crows chased them away.
Some interesting facts about Barred Owls: 1) their primary nemesis is the Great Horned Owl. A Barred Owl will leave its territory when a Great Horned Owl is nearby. 2) Pleistocene fossils of Barred Owls, at least 11,000 years old have been dug up in Florida, Tennessee, and Ontario. 3) Barred Owls generally don’t migrate or move around much. Most stay within a six-mile radius. 4) Originally found only on the East Coast, with habitat destruction issues, they have however migrated into the Northwest now displacing and hybridizing with Spotted Owls. 5) Young Barred Owls can climb trees by grasping the bark with their bill and talons, flapping their wings, and walking their way up the trunk. 5) The oldest Barred Owl on record was at least 24 years old (Source: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology).
The Barred Owls familiar call of “Who..Who..Who Cooks for you?” beckons me to pull out “the APP”. However, I won’t do it too often. Owls are indeed wise and it would soon learn “Who Dey” is just “Lil Ole Me” and then ignore me (just like the Editor sometimes). Be Blessed. Harry
"The App" worked. Our local Barred Owl flies in to see "Why Dey is" that is intruding on it's territory.
I wasn't ready for the flight shot again..
I call the Editor and set up the speaker in the front yard. Soon our pair of Barred Owls is starring down at us.
The larger of the pair is most likely the female and she seems the most irritated and vocal.
The male just seems to think we sure are some strange looking owls (especially the Editor :)).
The female sounds exactly like "the APP".
The local crows began to harass the owls.
Enough of these crows and Owl wanna bees. We know "Who Dey" is. We are outta here.