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Northern Hawk Owl

Surnia ulula ORDER: STRIGIFORMES FAMILY: STRIGIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

A bird of boreal forests, the Northern Hawk Owl is distinctive among owls for its morphology and behavior. In winters of food scarcity, it irrupts southward into southern Canada and the northern United States.

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Calls

  • Song
    Recorded by Leonard J. Peyton
    • Courtesy of Macaulay Library
    © Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Call of male is a rolling whistled "ulululululul," lasting up to 14 seconds. Female has a similar but shorter and hoarser call. Alarm call is rapid, high, "kip-kip-kip-kip."

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Search the Macaulay Library online archive for more sounds and videos