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Please help me I.D. this new bird sound

14 years ago

I live in the woods and pretty much know all the birds here. But lately, I've been hearing an usual sound. I don't live where there are saw whet owls, but I've heard they are in the southern part of the state (Indiana). This sound sounds like their pipe-pipe-pipe-pipe call......except its just a single pipe, then another in about 15-30 seconds.

I've thought maybe it was just part of a bob white's call, but its in the woods. And I don't hear anything else after that call.

I've also wondered if it is just one "syllable" of the towhee's usual call (just the "drink" of the "drink your tea" call. I have lots of towhees around here.......with all sorts of variations of calls.

And I know that blue jays can sometimes have a call like this. But I've just never heard it before.

Any ideas? I'm in central Indiana.

Thanks!

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Comments (7)

beegood_gw
14 years ago
Saw whet Owls have a sort of a woo woo woo call repeated over and over. it It can go on for over an hour. It's not a loud or harsh call. It's usually done much earlier in the year when they are nesting,
organic_bassetlvr
14 years ago
The Towhees around here-East Tennessee-certainly sing the "Drink" part of their song, also the "Tea" part-sometimes written as towhee. This am I heard "Drink, drink, drink....long pause...your tea" Then just "drink drink..." I think it's a little later in the year when I hear the "tea" or "towhee" part alone. Right now I have an Eastern Wood Peewee that repeats "pee-oh-wee" over & over & it's kinda mournful sounding. He sings from a cedar tree in a small cemetary across the road & it seems fitting somehow.
Susan
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catherinet
Original Author
14 years ago
I figured if it was a saw whet owl, the song would be longer......but I was hoping!
I have pewees too, and its not them.
Sometimes I wonder if its one note of a cuckoo.......which I also have. But darn.....it sounds exactly like one note of a saw whet owl about every 20 seconds.
I love a mystery! I went to that area last evening, but it was so hot and buggy, I just couldn't stay. I'll keep trying to find it though.
catherinet
Original Author
14 years ago
I got to thinking.......could it be one of the various calls of a bluejay??
beegood_gw
14 years ago
Why don't you Google Saw whet owls and you can hear the sound.
claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
14 years ago
The Blue Jays here sometimes make a very clear fluty sort of call which seems to be a call to gather the family, particularly a young one. It's a single tone, repeated after a while if there's no sign of the missing bird.

A few years ago a jay was killed by a hawk and that call was made constantly for several months by another jay, maybe the mother, who got hoarse.

I just checked the call of the Northern Saw-whet Owl and it does sound similar.

Claire
catherinet
Original Author
14 years ago
Yes, I know what the saw whet owl sounds like, but this is just a single "toot" every once in awhile (sometimes every 30 seconds or so).
MY DH just told me that he heard it in our woods after dark the other night.
I just saw a large owl, so I guess I'll listen to various other owl calls. I'm familiar with the sound of the screech, barred, and great horned owls, but none of the others.

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