Francis Harper’s Okefenokee Florida Barred Owl

In October 1913, Francis Harper explored the Okefenokee Swamp and published his journal in The Auk, the official publication of the American Ornithological Society.

FLORIDA BARRED OWL; ‘ Deer Owl’; ‘Hoot Owl.’- Very common. Its deep, booming cry is sure to be heard at night, and is so characteristic of the Okefinokee that the natives use it as one of their signals when they are in trouble or far from home. The Barred Owl by night and the Red-shouldered Hawk by day furnish a round of weird and startling calls that one cannot soon forget. The former is a typical bird of the gloom-haunted cypress bays, the river bottoms of the Suwannee, and the small cypress ponds on the islands. It begins its calls in the late afternoon and continues them well into the evening. In the forenoon they may be heard until 9 or 10 o’clock, and occasionally throughout the hottest day. Several times its notes were uttered at midday when light rains were falling or impending. Besides its well-known resonant call, we heard a subdued, querulous note. The ‘ Deer Owl, ‘ exhibit considerable curiosity; they responded frequently to poor imitations of their cry, and sometimes to the ‘ squeak.’

A Biological Reconnaissance of Okefinokee Swamp: The Birds
Authors: Albert H. Wright and Francis Harper
Source: The Auk, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Oct., 1913), pp. 477-505
Published by: Oxford University Press

iNaturalist observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/52503993

eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S71170406