There are greeting hoots and territorial hoots and emphatic hoots. And owls don’t just hoot. They shriek, yap, chitter, squeal, squawk, warble, and wail plaintively, most often in courtship songs—love songs made of odd and uncouth sounds generally unappreciated except by the ears for which they are intended. Some owls sing with the full power of their lungs; others coo softly. Some chirrup like a cricket. Some chuckle or roar with maniacal laughter.
