Many of us have heard owls in the woods as they call; many times, the call may be far off and faint, and we might not realize at the time that it is even an owl. 

The most common species of owl that I hear is the barred owl, with a call that sounds like “Who cooks for you?” 

Other species of owls can be heard calling in the region on occasion. 

When owls hunt, however, they are completely silent.

Owls have keen eyesight, well suited to hunting at night, but another tool in the owl’s arsenal is its acute sense of hearing. Owls can sense the direction and distance of a sound due to asymmetrical ear orifices on their skulls. The offset ears owls possess enable them to calculate the distance of prey as well as direction. 

Owls can hear unseen prey that might be in tall grass or under a layer of snow, can calculate the distance they need to thrust their talons and come up with their prey. 

An owl’s head has another tool to amplify sounds—a facial disk that somewhat resembles a satellite dish antenna. This facial disk works similarly to the satellite disk. Sounds are focused by the disk to the owl’s ears, making the sound of the mouse eating seeds a little louder.

Another raptor hunts by sound as well. The northern harrier has a facial disk and can frequently be observed flying low over fields and marshes as it looks, but mostly listens, for mice and voles that might be hiding in the grass. 

Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge is a good spot to see foraging northern harriers. During the winter, you can frequently find wintering short-eared owls in the same location, usually around dusk.