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Night time sound in the woods
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Posted by civilengr3 6a NE.TN (My Page) on Thu, Jul 30, 09 at 8:03
I've lived in woods all my life, and the other night I heard a sound I'd never heard before. Not sure that this is the right forum, but I can't think of anywhere on the internet with people more knowledgeable and willing to help so here goes.
It sounded like a deep-throated croaking sort of sound, almost like some animal hacking on a bone. Lasted for about 1-2 seconds, and would do it around 3 times each time. It would do it about every 60-120 seconds, and lasted for about 1 hour. I think it was a bird, because it seemed to be coming from a tree. There was typically a high-pitch whistle a few seconds before the caw sound. (dang, this is hard to describe!) |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Night time sound in the woods
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| I think it was probably a frog or toad. There are many species of frogs and toads, most make some sort of sound, some call from the trees, and all have a ventriloqual quality to their calls, making it hard to tell exactly where they are coming from. The regular pattern of calls is very typical of amphibians. I don't think any bird would call that regularly for that long, and there really are only a few candidate birds, none of which sound like what you are describing. Whip-poor-wills and Chuck-wills-widow both call loudly at night, but are pretty easy to recognize - they call out their name. Great Horned Owls make a wide variety of wierd sounds, but I doubt they would call for an hour straight. Barred Owls make mostly deep, hooting sounds. Screech owls whistle and don't call for an hour straight, in most cases. Night Herons might be the culprit here - they make several types of sounds, and aren't real common so you might not have heard them before. Still, my vote is for some type of frog or toad. |
RE: Night time sound in the woods
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| Ok, heard it again tonight. Here's a better description, which I wrote as soon as I came back in the house from hearing it. Definitely not a frog, or owl. whistle, lasting about 1 sec, going from high to low pitch.
immediately following, a very raspy, hoarse "bark", which lasts a little less than 1 sec. and is repeated usu. 2-4 times.
Moved through the woods with ease and noiseless. would make noise, then move about 100 feet and repeat. sometimes further. With 5-10 sec between sounds. Was probably 75-100 feet in front of me to begin with traveling from back of property to front, staying in woods line by at least 25-80 feet. All lasted approx. 15 minutes. I checked the night heron call, but definitely not it. Nor do we have any standing water nearby. I'm bumfuzzled! |
RE: Night time sound in the woods
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| I've asked everyone I could think of who might know. Nothing, except the suggestion that *it*'s not moving; *they* are calling. I don't like this plain text. No italics. |
RE: Night time sound in the woods
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- Posted by brandon7 6b (like 7b now) TN (My Page) on
Mon, Aug 17, 09 at 16:18
| Maybe you could take a tape recorder and get it on tape or record it digitally for even easier distribution. Then take it, or email it, to a local nature center and see if they know what it is. Corin-gardener, I agree, plain text really is awful. (-; |
RE: Night time sound in the woods
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Oooh, I love sarcasm, brandon7. Thanks
so much. |
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