This is the sound that woke me up last night

Only 1 time have I ever seen a owl in the wild. Friend and I where in my yard in upstate NY. My friend first saw it and pointed it out to me. What amazed me was his small size, about same as a robin. Not sure what a owl that size eats, think maybe he was looking for frogs.

@Nyboy It may have been a saw whet owl.
Here is a photo showing it's size

@catjac1975 I have never heard a barn owl. YIKES, We mostly have Horned owls and great gray. http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/...onZIP=&curGroupID=1&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=6
Not as jarring to wake up to.

Carol I think thats it!! The size is right. I always assumed owls where large birds.

A few years ago, our local Missouri Conservation Center had a program on "Birds of Prey" which I took a couple of my grand daughters to. It was really exciting; they had falcons and owls and buzzards and hawks, and I can't remember what all. Some were tethered, but some were trained to fly around the auditorium and back to the trainer's hand. We were able to see birds up close that we would never get the chance to view like that in nature. It was informative and entertaining.
I asked recently if they had another program scheduled in the future. No, unfortunately.

Several years ago we had a pygmy owl hit the sliding glass door.
He was stunned but alive, so we placed him in a spare birdcage and covered it with a towel. He came around and sat on a perch.


picture from Audobon
We quietly lifted the towel to peek at him and he hissed and jumped at the wire! I wasn't expecting such aggression, but I know he was scared. After about an hour we opened the door and he blasted out and into the woods. I haven't seen another one since then.

One summer evening my wife and I were at our next door neighbors' ( Cal. Ranch) having a couple drinks on their 2nd story deck. Their cat was napping on the railing. A Barn owl went SWOOP and kitty cat went YOWWWLLLIIIINNG bloody murder on it's way to dinner in that neighbors' century old barn. We also have a HUGE Valley Oak on our property as well as many others scattered on the neighbors' properties. There are Red Tailed Hawks nesting in several of these Oaks and literally dozens of ground squirrels raising their young at the base of these Oaks. We have never seen any of these hawks catching even ONE. There are DOZENS of coyotes roaming in our neighborhood. One would expect them to make a dent in the ground squirrel population, but you will be WRONG ! None of us have even seen a coyote even attempt to stalk one much less have one for lunch.

I was about 12 when my BFF's and I were dropped off at the farm to wait for the farrier. We sat in the barn until we began hearing the sound of an old man snoring. Scared the -- out of us. So scared, we were about to walk the 8 miles home in a blizzard until the barn owl woke up and started hooting instead of snoring.

I have heard that sound! There is a Co. park just across the field to the west. I frequently walk the dogs over to the trails. Headed home at dusk one evening ... yeah ... I bout had my 1st heart attack ... might have peed a little
We have Great Horned owls, Barred owls, Barn owls, and once our Pyr came out of the pole barn with a screech owl (they don't screech ...).

My husband recently heard it again-I can't believe I slept through it.