Bird of 1st Week, MT09

Always remembering to keep one eye on the grouse, let us swivel the other eye, owl-style, to focus on the chosen bird of 1st week. As promised in our recent email, we are continuing with the Kiwi theme (though not the kiwi theme. maybe another time) and celebrating THE LAUGHING OWL, who has been even less successful than the kakapo at weathering the storms of colonisation.

The fate of the laughing owl is, I am afraid, no laughing matter, for he is now almost certainly extinct. A small grain of hope remains as a result of reports by a group of American tourists who, while camping in the wilds of New Zealand, heard what they took to be 'the sound of a madman laughing' which is indeed the sort of sound that a laughing owl makes. However, this was in 1985 so whatever laughing owl was or was not heard back then, it's probably dead now.

Other descriptions of the laughing owl's call include 'a peculiar barking noise ... just like the barking of a young dog', 'precisely the same as two men "cooeying" to each other from a distance' and 'a melancholy hooting note'. A correspondent from 1905 suggested that laughing owls might be attracted by the music of an accordian, which bears some resemblance to the owl's call. Whether this actually worked during the days of live laughing owls is in doubt; we can only assume that now, even the most skilfully-played accordian will not be skilful enough to summon the laughing owl out of extinction. You are welcome to try though.