Early mornings tend to be much better for hearing owls calling than just after it turns dark. There is far less human activity than at dusk; many fewer humans are awake and driving their cars in the wee hours before dawn than just after dark, and consequently there is far less road noise. Cars traveling along a roadway can be heard well over two miles away.
So, if you are serious about finding owls, the hours before dawn are really the best and only time to find them with regularity. Distant sounds are heard further away and more clearly when there is little wind. The birds also call more frequently. Generally, it's calmer in the early hours preceding dawn than at dusk, when it takes a while for winds to calm from radiational warming.
Dead calm, absolutely windless conditions are optimum - no swaying branches or sounds generated by movement other than bird or animal. The calmer the conditions, the better your chance at hearing and possibly seeing owls. Temperature is also a factor, but not as far as it affects the birds calling; it's a factor for the observer, who is much more comfortable out walking, standing, listening or hanging out when it is milder. It is downright fun and a pleasure as compared to a night when temperatures drop into the teens or 20’s as on many winter nights.
One needs to familiarize oneself with the calls of Barn, Great Horned, Long-eared, Short-eared, Screech and Saw-whet owls. Learning to imitate their calls is a good idea, but some of us are better at this than others. Even a crude imitation seems to work on most species.
