Halliday’s Point, NSW, Australia
Photo by James Bennett
Also known as the Winking Owl, though you wouldn’t know it from this picture.
Also known as the Screaming Woman, from the sound of its more extreme, but rarer vocalization, it may be the origin of the mythical bunyip.
The bunyip was said to be a fearsome creature that inhabited swamps, rivers and billabongs. Bunyips had many different descriptions but most were of an animal of some sort whose favorite food was human women. The cries and noises coming from swamps and creeks at night were not said to be the victims but actually the noise the bunyip made. It is believed by many that the sound is of the nocturnal barking owl and that proves the location, the noises and the rarity of the bunyip cries. It is still not proven though that the barking owl actually started the bunyip story and it could be due to other sources.
It does sound a lot more like barking than I expected.
Things seem to have worked out better for the Barking Owl than the Laughing Owl. 😓
Unfortunately there are no recordings of laughing owls :(
Yes, that whole plan to bring in one problem animal after another to eat the previous problem animal wasn’t as successful as they planned, or maybe too successful…