We live eight miles outside center city Philadelphia. Who would guess that this close to the city, we would have owls living in our yard? Well, we know now! Because of our fireplace.
Astronomers use radio telescopes to listen to the night sky. They should just come to our house. Thanks to the fireplace in our bedroom, we can listen to the night sky too. And some nights, it’s really loud.
Over the years, we’ve listened to the owls hoot while they sit on our chimney. Now we know that Great Horned Owls really do say “who-who-who-who.”
We also know when the owls are talking to one another because we get to hear their conversations. Lucky us.
Owl 1: Who, who, who, who
Faraway Owl 2: Who, who, who, who
Really? That’s the best they can do? At 2:10 in the morning, they are talking about that? At some point, the person who gets most annoyed (usually my husband) goes outside to tell them to knock it off. (This is when I pretend I’m asleep. The owls never listen to me. They pretend they don’t understand me. They sit on the roof like they own the place, which in a way they do.)
“…the owls will deafen us with their incessant hooting…” Smithers from The Simpsons