WarbleAt night, or from deep woods at any hour, a bird that barks like a dog is most likely a Barred Owl. Its hoot is loud and barking, and it also gives other barking calls and screams, often in a back-and-forth duet between a pair. By day, from a rooftop, a wire or a power line, the barking dog may be a Northern Mockingbird or a European Starling, two birds that copy the sounds around them, dogs included.
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Let Warble listen, freeListen: the Barred Owl
Audubon's field guide describes the Barred Owl's main call as a loud, barking series of hoots, roughly hoo, hoo, hoo-hoo; hoo, hoo; hoo, hooo-aw, and adds that the bird has a range of other barking calls and screams. Heard from a distance through trees, with the rhythm blurred, a phrase like that can pass for a big dog a few properties over. The difference shows up when you listen for a minute: the owl's barks come in a fixed pattern, and the last one is drawn out into a long aw in a way no dog manages.
The other clue is the answer. Barred Owl pairs call in duet during the nesting season, so one set of barks is often followed by a second voice from somewhere else in the woods.
Barred Owls live year-round in dense woods with few clearings, especially in low, wet places: wooded river bottoms and swamps. They are mostly night birds, but they do call in daylight too, so a barking owl at midday is not out of the question.
The mimics: a dog on the roof
If the barking comes from a chimney, a light pole or a wire in broad daylight, think mimic.
Wikipedia's account of the Northern Mockingbird lists cats, dogs, frogs and crickets among the animals it imitates, along with squeaky wheels and car alarms, and a single male can carry somewhere between 43 and 203 song types. Audubon describes the song as a long series of musical and harsh phrases, each repeated three or more times. So a mockingbird's dog is a short burst of barks, then a cardinal, then a squeak, then something else again. Mockingbirds live year-round across most of the continental United States, sing all day in the nesting season and often all night as well.
Starlings are the other suspect. A Washington State University article on starling mimicry opens with exactly this scene, a barking dog that turns out to be a bird on a power line, and quotes a university wildlife ecologist saying starlings copy everything from car alarms and coyotes to human speech. They live in every state, and the article notes that the mimicry is easiest to notice in spring, when they are attracting mates and defending territories.
How to tell which one you heard
- Dark woods, rhythmic barks, a second voice answering: Barred Owl.
- A few barks, then a totally different sound, from a high perch: Northern Mockingbird. Count the repeats; three or more of each sound is typical.
- Barks mixed in with other borrowed sounds, from a power line or a wire: European Starling.
- Irregular barking that rises when someone walks by, with no pattern at all: probably a dog. Birds that bark tend to be tidier about it than dogs are.
If you can catch a few seconds of the sound on your phone, Warble can tell an owl from a mockingbird even when the bird itself stays out of sight.
Questions people ask
What owl sounds like a dog barking?
The Barred Owl. Audubon describes its main hoot as loud and barking, and it has other barking calls and screams. Listen for a run of hoots ending in a dragged-out aw, often answered by a second owl.
Can a mockingbird bark like a dog?
Yes. Northern Mockingbirds imitate dogs and cats as well as other birds and mechanical noises. The bark comes in a short run of repeats and is followed by a completely different sound.
Why do I hear barking in the woods at night?
If the barks come in a regular pattern and another voice answers, it is likely a pair of Barred Owls calling to each other. They live year-round in wet, dense woods and call mostly at night.
Sources
- National Audubon Society, Guide to North American Birds: Barred Owl. www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/barred-owl
- Wikipedia: Northern mockingbird (mimicry of dogs, cats and other animals; repertoire). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_mockingbird
- National Audubon Society, Guide to North American Birds: Northern Mockingbird. www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/northern-mockingbird
- Washington State University, College of Arts and Sciences: Like a dog, like a frog, like a starling?. cas.wsu.edu/2016/05/05/like-a-dog-like-a-frog-like-a-starling/