The barking owl is a striking-looking hunter found in Australia\u2019s woodlands. Compact, powerful and yellow-eyed, it spends the day roosting in foliage before emerging to hunt mammals, birds, reptiles and insects as the light fades.<\/p>\n
It is often heard before it is seen: alongside its dog-like bark, this owl can produce an eerie, wavering scream that has helped make it one of the country\u2019s most memorable birds.<\/p>\n
The barking owl lives across much of mainland Australia, though it is largely absent from the arid centre. It is also found in New Guinea and the Moluccas (an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia).<\/p>\n
In Australia, it is most common in open woodland but frequents riverine woodland, too. It is a bird of edges and openings as much as trees. In some regions, it may settle around rural towns and suburbs, provided there are mature trees, suitable hunting spaces and hollows for nesting.<\/p>\n
The name comes from its sharp, dog-like call. It is often described as a double note, sounding like \u2018wook-wook\u2019<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0\u2018<\/em>woof-woof\u2019<\/em>, and may be given repeatedly by males and females calling in duet.<\/p>\n Its other, more rarely heard call is very different: a long, wavering scream with an eerily human quality. This is the source of the barking owl\u2019s more dramatic nickname, the \u2018screaming-woman bird\u2019. For anyone hearing it unexpectedly in the dark, it is not difficult to understand how folklore could gather around it.<\/p>\n