Hoooooo are you, hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo?

So last week I'm in bed at around 11pm, when I'm awoken by what sounds like one of the kids whimpering in their room. As I lay there, listening for which room it was coming from, I realized it was coming from outside. I then realized there was a pattern to the sound, and shortly thereafter, realized it was the call of an OWL. My experiences with owls only go so far as a character on Winnie the Pooh and a bag of Wise potato chips - so it was a bit disconcerting at first. The call had an eerie tone to it, a kind of muted moan - repeating over and over. So the next morning, I grab my Audobon bird field guide (yes, I keep one of those handy) and look through to see what kinds of owls are local here. I narrowed it down to a few, then started reading about their calls, and sure enough, one matched EXACTLY. "Hoooo-hoo-hoo. Hooo. Hooo." I even listened to a few clips of their call online and it was an exact match. I didn't even realize this breed of owl lived around here - what you see pictured, the Great Horned Owl. It had a lower call, so I know it was male - and they are smaller than females, but still REALLY big. Okay, not that tall, only averaging 22 inches, but these babies have a wingspan of 4 to 5 FEET! They are the only predatory bird ever known to have killed a human (granted it was trying to steal eggs from a mama's nest -bird brain). They're classified as raptors and are known to eat anything from rodents to rabbits (which they swallow whole) to turkeys, great blue herons, swans, or other owls. YIKES. Anyway, I told Nick and my parents about it... and sure enough a few nights ago, it was back and Nick got to hear it. I suppose I like knowing that it's probably taking care of our pest population outside, but it is still a little creepy to me knowing that such a powerful animal is sitting right outside my window some nights. If I by some miracle manage to snap a photo of ol' Hootie, I'll be sure to post it, in the meantime - this is what I could find. Quite a mug, eh?