A Tree Climbing Dog??

Well, actually..........NO.

However, it is VERY disconcerting to hear the sound of an apparent dog bark coming from up in the trees surrounding our house. We have a locally resident barking owl in our neighbourhood.

First noticed a few weeks ago on a quiet still evening, coming from behind the house, then in the large African mahogany at the front, near the street, then in the next door neighbour's trees.

A good quality torch was grabbed.........and there it was, back in the mahogany, then flew off a little way. Since then there has been a fairly regular cry in the evening.

We do have many trees around us, so there is plenty of sites to use.

There is a lot of information on this site: http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/Ninox-connivens
and some quality photos here - http://www.ntbirds.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=10

Obviously not so common in other places but it seems to be fairly common here in Darwin. The bird call is just like a quiet dog bark.