What bird says who cooks for you?

After dark, who cooks for you, who cooks for you all is a Barred Owl: about eight loud, barking hoots in two groups, the last one falling away, from wooded swamps and river bottoms across the eastern United States. In daylight in the Southwest, Texas or Florida, the same question usually comes from a White-winged Dove, whose drawn-out call Audubon's field guide writes as who-cooks-for-you. Same words, different instrument: the owl barks, the dove coos.

Listen: the likeliest bird

This may be the best-known bird mnemonic in the country. Wikipedia gives who cooks for you, who cooks for you all as the standard phrase for the Barred Owl, and Audubon leads its quiz of tricks for remembering bird calls with the same eight words. The bird has an older nickname that makes the same point by counting: old eight-hooter.

Underneath the words, the call is a run of about eight accented hoots in two phrases, with the pitch dropping at the very end. Audubon's guide describes it as loud and barking, and lists a variety of other barks and screams the owl uses too. It also travels. Wikipedia estimates that the call probably carries well over half a mile, so the owl you hear from bed may be a long way off.

Barred Owls live year-round in woodlands, wooded river bottoms and wooded swamps, and they favor dense, low, wet woods with few clearings. They call most between six in the evening and six in the morning, and least in mid-afternoon. The noisiest stretch of the year runs from late January in Florida to early April in Canada. The species covers most of the eastern United States and has spread to the West Coast as well.

By day: the White-winged Dove

If the question comes in full daylight from mesquite, a saguaro or a shade tree in a desert town, think dove before owl. Audubon's field guide gives the White-winged Dove's call as a drawn-out hooo-hooo-ho-hooo or, in so many words, who-cooks-for-you. The rhythm is close to the owl's first phrase, but the sound is a coo rather than a bark.

In the Southwest this is mainly a summer bird, arriving by March and leaving by September, though a few stay through winter, mostly in towns. Texas has them in native brushland, and in Florida they are mostly permanent residents. Look for them in semi-open country: river woods, mesquite, saguaro stands, groves, farmland, citrus orchards and suburbs. When one flies, big white patches flash across the wings.

If the night hooting is shorter and will not stretch to fit the cooking question, try the Great Horned Owl. Audubon pairs it with Who's awake? Me too., and counting syllables is the quickest way to separate the two owls in the dark.

How to tell which one you heard

• Check the clock. After dark, start with the Barred Owl. In bright daylight in the Southwest, Texas or Florida, start with the dove. Barred Owls do sometimes call and hunt by day, so treat this as a first guess, not a rule.
• Listen to the tone. A loud, barking voice with a falling aw at the end is the owl. A drawn-out, rounded coo is the dove.
• Count the beats. About eight hoots in two groups: Barred Owl. Five, in the rhythm of Who's awake? Me too: Great Horned Owl.
• Look at the setting. Swamps, river bottoms and dense wet woods suit the owl. Mesquite, saguaros, citrus groves and town streets suit the dove.
• If you can see it: the Barred Owl is a big, round-headed owl with dark eyes, no ear tufts, bars across the chest and streaks down the belly. The dove shows broad white wing patches in flight.

If you would rather not stand in the yard counting hoots, Warble can listen for a minute and name the caller by sound.

Questions people ask

Warble is a game, not a field guide. Facts about birds on this page come from the sources above.