Message:

[

Previous   Next

]

By Topic:

[

Previous   Next

]

Subject:

Re: What can I be hearing?

From:

Andy Martin

Reply-To:

Andy Martin

Date:

Thu, 7 Feb 2008 20:14:11 -0500

Melanie,

I would have guessed a mocker until you mentioned the calling while 
flying thing.  I have heard mockingbirds doing a "fair but slightly off" 
Killdeer call and have also heard them calling from a tree in the middle 
of the night but never while flying.

Last March, while recording for night migrants, I did get some Killdeer 
passing overhead starting early in the month but you could tell they 
passing over and not flying for an extended period over same area. 
However, habitat around my house is not Killdeer habitat.

Cornell's Library of Sound 
(http://www.birds.cornell.edu/macaulaylibrary/) is always a good place 
to search for alternate calls of a species that did not make it to the 
Stoke's CD. 

Keep me posted if you get a plausible answer.

Andy Martin
Gaithersburg
 

Melanie Lynch wrote:
> Twice now I have come home around 10pm and both nights I have been 
> hearing a bird calling which is out of the ordinary and making me 
> nuts. The first night I though perhaps it had gotten disturbed and was 
> flying calling out an alarm call, but two nights in a row at the same 
> time made me really question this.  I do more of my backyard birding 
> by ear rather than by sight because I live in an apartment complex and 
> we are not allowed to put out feeders.  We do have a small wooded area 
> off the parking lot and we are waterfront with some small wetland 
> areas and I am used to hearing the occasional black crowned night 
> heron cronking and we always have swifts and swallows swooping for 
> bugs at night, but that is not until summer.
>
> Here's what information I can offer:
> At first it was reminiscent of a killdeer (whose call I know well) but 
> when I got in the house and began flipping through my Stokes CD's on 
> iTunes the cadence was not the same, although the tone and quality of 
> the call was very similar.
>
> I live in a garden apartment complex and the bird was flying around 
> some of the buildings while calling. We have a small wooded area and 
> we are waterfront with some small wetland areas. Because of the 
> security lights I am unable to actually see it.
>
> The song it has been repeating goes between a two note and a three not 
> call, occasionally adding a 4th note. The notes are pretty much the 
> same length and the emphasis seems to rotate.
>
> So far I can only say what it is not and that would include owls, 
> nighthawks and nightjars.
>
> Based on the night flying and my somewhat rough description of the 
> call, can anyone suggest what bird/s I should be looking/listening for?