Fellow birders please help?

[Pepper]

OK, I'm stumped! For the second summer in a row, I am hearing a bird sound which I cannot identify, and in frustration I'm turning to all my fellow birders here.

In the woods around the house I am hearing a call that can only be described as a croakey, warlby, scream. Sometimes it's a solitary bird, and other times it's a small flock. Whatever it is, it's LARGE, but never flies out of the wooded area to be seen.

The one and only time I heard it and actually witnessed a bird fly in the area, it was a crow. Are the crows actually making this unreal, almost prehistoric sound?

I'm frustrated beyond belief trying to identify the source of these bizarre cries. Anyone got any ideas?

[Island Girl]

They are very large and very loud.

[PaulS]

I could be wrong...

[Pepper]

They are very large and very loud.
Good guess, but definately not what's making this bizarre sound. I do have a lovely pair of Piliateds, and their sound is truly unmistakable, but quite different from the one I'm hearing. Theirs is a staccato, repeating caw. What I'm hearing is a more mournful sound, almost heartbreaking in it's soulful tone.

I wish I could describe it better! Perhaps I'll try recording it!

Any other ideas? :confused:

[Pepper]

I could be wrong...

Pterydactyl is a good guess! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Seriously, the sound is something you'd expect to hear from a prehistoric bird! :eek:

[Quilt Lady]

. . . would be the extreamly rare Winnipesaukee Screaming Croakey Warbler. This elusive bird inhabits the deep forest and has been known to fixate on former red-headed females. They draw their victims slowly into the forest by making weird noises. Once in the forest, the victim is attacked and has their hair forcefully removed from their head for nesting material. :eek: Be careful out there!!

On a serious note . . . crows and ravens are both large and loud. They both can make noises similar to what you are hearing. With the young ones in tow, they make a real racket.

[Pepper]

Thanks QL - I'm going to continue to try and catch a glimpse of one while it's making this bizarre sound, just to be sure! If I discover anything new, I'll report back! ;)

Meanwhile, I see that your husband is definately not obeying a DIRECT ORDER I gave him a few hours ago! :eek: Tell him to get busy! ;)

[upthesaukee]

We have had visting crows this year...far more than in the past years. They are frequenting the woods behind our house, and will create quite a racket, especially first thing in the morning (before 8 or so) and again in the evening coming up on dusk.

Noisy rascals, regardless of the time.

[Pepper]

No doubt about it, crows are noisy! But I've never physically SEEN one make the sound that I am describing. I hear plenty of that awful CAW CAW CAWING most days, but this plaintive crying sound is so eerie and mysterious! It's almost creepy!!! :rolleye1:

[Grant]

At night or during the day?

[Pepper]

At night or during the day?

Always during the daylight. I don't think I've ever heard it earlier than about 10:00, and definately never later than about 3:00. Does that help?

[MWSP]

Hi Pepper,
In my opinion, they are Ravens. Although I'm not a bird expert by any means, I have seen these birds hanging around the dumpster at work and they look like giant crows, usually about 3-4 times the size of our average crows. One day I heard this loud screaming that made the hair on my neck stand up and went to investigate. Sure enough, there were about 10 of them sitting in the trees around the dumpster alternating between the screaming and the loud clicking sounds they make. I have seen one fly off with an entire slice of pizza in it's beak.

Gary

[Sparky]

Could it be a hawk's nest? A few years ago we had a hawk family take up residence and I couldn't believe the screaming sounds the babies made up in the nest. It was always in the daytime...I assume they were screeching for their lunch.

[Pepper]

A bit of Googling has netted some interesting resources which have provided a bit of information, and encourage me to investigate even further!

The first site http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/oct/papr/raven.html at first made me certain that the bird in question is indeed a raven.

Then I googled a bit further and came upon a second site http://www.crows.net/calls.html which turns me again to the crow.

However, in my searching I have noted that oftentimes the crow and raven are lumped into one grouping, and thus the second page could very possibly be referring to both crows and ravens. :rolleye2:

Meanwhile, now that the violent thunderstorm has passed, the entire yard is now full of cawwing crows which are kicking up one heck of a racket ... but none of them are screaming. Go figure.

If nothing else, I'm learning a lot more about some of the feathered residents of my yard which I had previously ignored in favor of their more colorful neighbors. :)

[Hermit Cover]

Pepper.....It seems like only yesterday I nearly hit a pterydactyl crossing old Route 66 as I was heading thru Tucumcari to get my kicks. It yelled at me in that very characteristic screaming croakey warble that we've all heard for many years......very many years! Or perhaps it was a Baltimore Raven as others have speculated...I think! When you get a recording....many of us would love to come by and listen to it as we munch on lunch!:laugh:

[Pepper]

HC - has Mrs. HC taken your temperature today? I think you have a fever! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Honestly though, I think you might be right ... It's a Baltimore Raven screaming that football season is too far away! :D

[pmj]

could it be red wing blackbirds?

pmj

[Pepper]

could it be red wing blackbirds?

pmj

Definately not Red-Winged Blackbirds.

[Zee]

Both ravens and crows are members of the corvidae family. They both have varied vocalizations including mimicking of other birds and sometimes even mammals. I have actually seen a raven shriek in Tuftonboro. The sound is bone chilling until you get a fix on what did it. The first time we heard it was at night and we couldn't imagine what it was. The next time it was daylight. My first thought was a similar sound to what a peacock will make but more gravelly. I couldn't find any web sites that explained this but I know what I saw. Ravens are more common around the lake then they used to be.

[Lin]

Here is another site with sound bites of crows and ravens.
http://www.shades-of-night.com/aviary/sounds/sounds.html
or try this one
http://birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?id=318

[KBoater]

if you want to see your cat attack a laptop play the ravin calls.:(

[Zee]

I think the birds in question may be a barred owl. We live in a wooded section of Tuftonboro and were startled the other night by a night-long hissing/rasping call of two birds. At 2AM, curiousity got the better of me and I searched the wood margin (from my rear slider) with a flashlight. :eek: Two barred owls popped into view. Upon further daylight research on the internet, many web-sites describe very varied vocalizations including screaming, coacking, rasping, wheezing, etc. We always assume they only make the usual "Who cooks for me" sound. Since the week before we had a bear on our front porch at 4:30 AM , seeing just owls was a great relief.:D