What does the Whiskered Screech-Owl sound like at night?
Press play. If that is the sound outside, you have your answer — the Whiskered Screech-Owl's "too-too-too-too-too...".
What you're hearing
A long run of soft, evenly pitched whistles, often delivered from a hidden perch in a dark canyon. It sounds steady and patient, like a tiny bird-sized metronome in the trees.
“too-too-too-too-too...”
Birders often file this one under Even Whistle Series.
What time of night you hear it
After dark in the sky-island canyons of southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico. The bird is a year-round resident there; it is the singing that peaks in spring and summer.
It is most active from dusk through the night and into early dawn. Spring is the best time to hear one, when males sing persistently from hidden perches in dark canyons.
Why a Whiskered Screech-Owl calls at night
An even, patient run of soft toots from a dark oak canyon — a tiny metronome in the trees. Stay out long enough and you may get its other song, a syncopated one that really does tap out like Morse code. Its range barely enters the United States, so if you are hearing it at night you are almost certainly in the mountains of southeast Arizona or southwest New Mexico.
What else could it be?
The other voices you are most likely to hear in the dark. Play them and compare.