Lots of conjecture.
I’ve suspected for a while that we live on the border between Simon’s and Daphne’s territory, but more in Simon’s than not. When it isn’t actively owl season, Simon comes by occasionally, but Daphne comes by far less. Also the last step of fledging has, for the last three years, involved the parents coaxing the owlets westward over the very busy street.
Since the day we buried the owl, I have only heard a solo owl and only doing the “whoo” (“Where is everybody?”). I caught that here two nights ago. I’m relatively sure this isn’t Daphne because it doesn’t sound like her at all. But I also feel like it isn’t Simon. For one thing, Simon tended to park in one place and Whooo for an hour until someone answered him. This guy (sounds more like a guy, right?) is switching trees between hoots, moving fairly rapidly along.
The only way I would have felt like I definitely knew who we buried is if Simon and Daphne had resumed pre-2025 activity in exactly their normal way. That hasn’t happened. And again I am not any kind of owl expert and it’s very different having a dead owl in your lap versus watching a live one in a tree, but I thought the owl we buried was too small to be Daphne. So for the moment, I’m anthropomorphizing and assuming this McHooty is a baby from last year, that Simon is buried under my tree, and that Daphne has moved back to her territory for the season.
For transparency, this is audio from my phone and video from the owlcam, same time period.