Tu-whit tu-whoo
Thanks to Sarah Gould for reminding us that the tawny owl’s classic tu-whit tu-whoo noise is, in fact, made by two birds in conversation.
The female call is tu-whit:
Audio by Trevor Fletcher (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) xeno-canto.org
The male calls back, tu-whoo:
Audio by Richard Dunn (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5) xeno-canto.org
Together, in conversation, they sound like a single bird calling tu-whit tu-whoo:
Audio by Dann Alder (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) xeno-canto.og
Both male and female also make loud alarm calls:
Audio by Simon Elliot ((CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) xeno-canto.org
I didn’t know that. Thanks for the info.