This is Bird Note.

What does an owl sound like?

For a long time, author and illustrator, Becca Rowland, thought the answer was simple.

As a kid, an owl made one sound.

Like, a cow says moo and an owl says who, and like, that was it.

But very few owls actually make that noise.

They have such a wide variety of sounds.

They sound like a horse.

Like the eastern screech owl.

Or they sound like a kazoo.

That's the long-eared owl.

Or the barn owl, like someone absolutely screaming because they're being murdered.

Like, it's a terrible noise.

These owls are among dozens of entries in Becca's new book, Bird Talk, hilariously accurate ways to identify birds by the sounds they make.

If it sounds like a kettle whistling, it's a snowy owl.

If it sounds like someone learning to play a recorder, it's a northern saw-wet owl.

In your head, you think, I know what an owl sounds like, and then you learn a wet owl.

In your head, you think, I know what an owl sounds like, and then you learn that you don't.

I love learning things that I thought I knew that were wrong.

Learn more about Becca's book Bird Talk at our website, birdnote.org.

I'm Ariana Rimmel.

Support for Birdnote is provided by Jim and Beerta Fulkener from Seattle, Washington,

...