October 3, 2020

A clearer recording of that birdsong...

Yesterday, I asked for help identifying a bird, but it was hard to hear in the recording. Some listeners thought loon, others screech owl.

Today, I got a much clearer recording:



ADDED: From email sent by "Tom":
100% certain it's a Screech Owl (probably Eastern given your location). Banded many of them when I was doing bird banding (now just monitoring). Ferocious birds for their size. Will take American Robins, Blue jays, etc. They will cache food in American Kestrel nestboxes over the winter (once found 15-20 mice in a box). Would routinely find birds that they had taken headless - a signature tell that a Screecher took that bird.

42 comments:

Fritz said...

Loon.

JAORE said...

Agree with Fritz. Loon.

rehajm said...

Think I know: From a similar historical recording...

Wince said...

'Some listeners thought loon, others screech owl."

No no no, it's spelt, "Raymond Luxury Yacht," but it's pronounced...

Throat Warbler Mangrove
.

Curious George said...

Loon. And they are in your photo. Enjoy them while you can, they're heading for the Gulf of Mexico.

Bob Boyd said...

How do you know it's a bird? There could be spooks in the woods.

AllenS said...

Squirrel?

Meade said...

"How do you know it's a bird? There could be spooks in the woods."

John Brennan? Some might say John Brennan is also a loon.

Fernandinande said...

"The haunting call of our loon is a comforting sign of home."

Meade said...

Hey, if you saw this face jump out of deep dark woods at you on your early morning run, I think you too might decide to carry.

David Begley said...

Loom.

Dan said...

Screech owl.

Bob Boyd said...

Looney Spook Leaves Public Service. Will Devote Remaining Years To Being Spooky Loon.

Michael K said...

Sounds like a loon to me.

Aggie said...

I don't think it's a loon, although the call is similar. For one thing, I've never heard a loon call that wasn't made on the water or over it - and this sounds as if it might have come from the woods.

traditionalguy said...

May be calls of a savage hunting party of Huron Indians. They want Wisconsin back.

Meade said...

Clappers, Comeys and Brennans... Oh my!

Gordon Scott said...

Loon.

Bob Boyd said...

Clappers, Comeys and Brennans... Oh my!

They're not out of the woods yet.
And if Trump wins they may be flying south.

RK said...

Eastern screech owl. Check out the "whinny" call at the link.

AllenS said...

Please Google "the sound that a loon makes"

I've never seen a loon in the woods.

n said...

“There’s an app for that.”

Kate said...

Wow. RK in with a very convincing link.

Former Mainahs here. We're not sure it's a loon.

daskol said...

You must get lots of loonies making their way south-- they're common. We even have them in the US. Toonies, though, are uniquely Canuck.

Brian said...

Anyone remotely interested in birds should download the Merlin app(free) from Cornell. Photos sounds and maps for all North American birds. There are 2 loons in the east. This bird sounds pretty close to eastern screech owl.

rehajm said...

I'm sticking with not loon and maybe owl or migrating southbounder. It sounds looney but doesn't match any call I recall from having loons on our pond. I remember they stick to three or four calls and that's not something I remember. You should probably have a sighting on the lake if one is lurking about..

Original Mike said...

"I've never seen a loon in the woods."

She's on picnic point, which is basically being on Lake Mendota. But I'm not so sure about loon. It's loon-like (my first thought was also "loon"), but the repetitive nature is kind of unusual for a loon.

Occasional Birder said...

It is an eastern screech owl

Occasional Birder said...

It is an eastern screech owl

Ann Althouse said...

"I don't think it's a loon, although the call is similar. For one thing, I've never heard a loon call that wasn't made on the water or over it - and this sounds as if it might have come from the woods."

I'm aiming the camera at the woods, but Lake Mendota is right at my back. But we did feel like that sound came from the direction that I aimed the camera.

The reason I thought it didn't sound like a loon is that it's the same repetitive sound over and over, without the variation that I'm hearing in recordings of loons.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

That's clearly Katherine Hepburn.

Rosalyn C. said...

Thanks to the YouTube videos which were posted yesterday I’d say it was the screech owl.

Robt C said...

Loon. I just checked it against my Audubon app and it's definitely a loon's "tremolo call."

The Minnow Wrangler said...

I'm going with screech owl. We used to hear this in our neighborhood in Omaha on occasion and I'm pretty sure we didn't have any loons there.

AL said...

People, that is so obviously the call (not song) of an Eastern Screech Owl. Apparently not too many birders on this blog.

tim in vermont said...

I live on a lake in the summer and hear both screech owls and loons, it’s probably a screech owl. I suppose it’s possible that it’s just a loon doing one very tiny subset of its call, since I have never actually heard a screech owl call during the day, but I have never heard a loon call like that either, just doing the one bit.

If it came from the woods, it’s a screech owl.

ken in tx said...

Screech owl, I hear them all the time.

daskol said...

So, a day owl, up at dawn. Too bad they don’t care for worms.

FWBuff said...

Eastern screech owl. It sounds just like the one in the woods at the end of our street here in Ft. Worth. No lakes within hearing range.

ceowens said...

Download BirdNet from Cornell.

billthepill said...

+1 on Eastern Screech Owl, whinny call.

Begonia said...

Loons don't usually call much during migration. I've seen lots of loons out on Mendota/Monona during migration and I can't ever remember hearing them call.

That's why I agree on the screech owl.

If you have an iphone, you should get iNaturalist! my mom is addicted to that app.