A few years ago I was camping alone in the Oconee National Forest. In the middle of the night I heard what I was pretty sure were about half a dozen drunk guys out in the woods somewhere. They seemed to be gradually getting closer, and I was a little concerned for my safety, imagining that they were not only stinking drunk but surely heavily armed, and there was no telling what they might do to a tree-hugging birdwatcher. After listening for a while I realized it was two (2) barred owls squaring off. Eventually they came close enough that I could hear what sounded like wings slapping together in a scuffle. A little later I heard a scream such as might come from a small mammal with talons in its back, then some very proud hootin' and hollerin' from one of those owls.

Tim Rose

> >The barred owls were calling to each other with the usual hoots as well as the wild-sounding "monkey calls".