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Loud Nocturnal Bird, What is it?

13 years ago

There has been some type of bird, in the tree outside of our bedroom window, who has been making a racket every night once the sun goes down. It actually sounds a little like a duck, it's song is sort of like a quack.

Is anyone else hearing this type of bird at night? Does anyone have any idea what type of bird it could be? It's been keeping me awake at night or waking me up if I do happen to fall asleep.

I have all types of birds in my yard, they visit my feeders, bath in my birdbath and nest in my birdhouses, but I have never heard this bird outside at night before, this is the first year.

Linda

Featured Answer

chris8796

13 years ago

Is it a whip-poor-will bird?

Here is a link that might be useful: bird calls

Comments (6)

orrin_h
13 years ago
Are you sure it's a bird and not some type of frog or toad? They can be surprisingly loud. We had one last week on the patio making quite a racket; it had us a bit confused until we managed to locate it.

-O-
glad2garden
13 years ago
In the spring I thought I was hearing a bird at night that was so loud. It had to be tree frogs. There were no birds there where I was hearing them, and I understand tree frogs are very hard to see on a tree.
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Well, at least some of what I heard appears to be a couple of Night Herons as I finally saw one while making the call. It looked like a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron as I thought I saw a strong black and white pattern on it's face, but it was low light so I could have been mistaken. It and it's partner both took off almost as soon as I saw them too, so I only got a fleeting glimpse of them. Strange though, the call was much more repetitious than what I read or heard online. It also was lower than most of the calls I listened to online. I also don't know what they're doing up in tall trees most of the night instead of down by some body of water hunting. Maybe it's something about the environment around here in my part of eastern Kansas? LOL We do have a lot of Seagulls but they're almost always flying up high at between about 200' to 500' zig-zagging around non-stop all day it seems. The only time I see them down on the ground is in or near 1 of the large reservoirs here in Kansas, but those are some 75 to 100 miles from my place.
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I used to live next to the Hillsborough River, just north of Tampa, and could often hear limpkin calls at night, and they can be disturbing. Check the link below and see if that's not what you have. Tucker Here is a link that might be useful: Limpkin calls
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deanie1
13 years ago
Have you actually seen the figure of some kind of bird in your tree? If not, I'd go with the frog/toad idea too. We have lots of them around here and they typically start up when it's about to get dark. Ours give just one "quaaaaack" at a time.
Pat Z5or6 SEMich
8 years ago
chris8796, this is several years later but I would like to thank you for that bird calls link. Very nice of you.
jreri
3 years ago
I was looking to identify a bird I was hearing and came across this thread. I later was able to identify the bird as an American Woodcock. Thought I would share in case you were still wondering 10 years later.

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