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This little lady knows how to sweet-talk big birds
By Byron Kerman
Photograph by Frank Di Piazza
Trina Whitener makes animal noises for a living. As a naturalist/field specialist at Valley Park’s World Bird Sanctuary, she’s
one of several folks who lead the organization’s instructional Owl Prowls, which are scheduled through the end of this month. Whether she’s looking for avian love in a dark forest or serving fillet of rat (yum!) to one of the sanctuary’s prized tame owls, she gives a hoot—with brio.
Tell me a little about how the Owl Prowl works. The first part of our program is where we fly birds and talk about them. Then we take a short break and take a walk out across the grounds of the sanctuary, and we pause at certain points, and whoever’s leading the program will hoot. Usually, the owl that we try to call for is the barred owl. If you hoot and they hear you, if they choose to respond, they’ll call back to you.
Do they interpret the hoot you make as “This is my territory—keep away!” or “I’m in the mood for love—let’s get together”? A little of both. If they hoot back, that means “I’m a barred owl. I’m out here. This is my territory. If you can hear me and if you’re a male, you better go away. But if you’re a member of the opposite sex, come on in.” I don’t know if my hoot sounds like a male or a female barred owl hoot. I would hope female.
Could you do the barred owl hoot, please? Sure, no problem. It sounds kind of like you’re saying, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?” [She imitates the hoot.]
I thought it was kinda feminine. If I were an owl, I would identify you as a lady owl. Good. Thank you.
Do you find yourself hooting in the car by yourself, or in the shower? In the car, yes. In the shower, no.
Do you think a hoot in a singles bar would have the desired effect? Well, if I were at a singles bar with a bunch of other bird nerds like myself, maybe. But if I just went to the Landing, I think I would get a lot of strange looks.
What if you actually hooted at Hooters? I’ve never been to Hooters.
