Halliday’s Point, NSW, Australia
Photo by James Bennett
Also known as the Winking Owl, though you wouldn’t know it from this picture.
Also known as the Screaming Woman, from the sound of its more extreme, but rarer vocalization, it may be the origin of the mythical bunyip.
The bunyip was said to be a fearsome creature that inhabited swamps, rivers and billabongs. Bunyips had many different descriptions but most were of an animal of some sort whose favorite food was human women. The cries and noises coming from swamps and creeks at night were not said to be the victims but actually the noise the bunyip made. It is believed by many that the sound is of the nocturnal barking owl and that proves the location, the noises and the rarity of the bunyip cries. It is still not proven though that the barking owl actually started the bunyip story and it could be due to other sources.
Bottom eyelids up means sleeping.
Someone was paying attention!
That’s probably why most of the faces look more cranky than winky. They keep getting their naps spoiled.
Their eyes don’t seen to follow the guide though. Yellow eyes would normally be diurnal (active during the day) but sources either call it crepuscular (dawn and dusk), nocturnal, or crepuscular and nocturnal on moonlit nights.
Owl’s gonna do what an owl’s gonna do…
Looking up these facts and such every day had been a surprise. We probably all think of owls as pretty common animals we all know, but outside a few species, there seems to be much unknown about most of them still.
That’s because they’re so sneaky! I love the way there’s almost this absence of sound when they fly close.
Both calls can be heard in this link:
Woof!
It does sound a lot more like barking than I expected.
Things seem to have worked out better for the Barking Owl than the Laughing Owl. 😓
Unfortunately there are no recordings of laughing owls :(
Yes, that whole plan to bring in one problem animal after another to eat the previous problem animal wasn’t as successful as they planned, or maybe too successful…
One picture of a bunyip. There seem to be many different versions, some more aquatic lizard looking, some more sabertooth tiger looking, some more swamp monstery.
