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Strange Sounds

It's a jungle out there!
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© Paul Bannick

What an amazing array of sounds birds have to offer! The call of a male Yellow Rail sounds like someone tapping two small stones together. And Turkey Vultures hissing at one another over a carcass sound like a snarling lion. The duet between the male and female Barred Owls seen here is especially raucous. BirdNote gets most of its sounds from The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds.

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BirdNote®
Strange Sounds

Written by Chris Peterson

This is BirdNote.

[Call of Yellow Rail]  Some bird calls can sound like somethin’ else altogether!  For example, one could easily mistake the call of a male Yellow Rail, [Call of Yellow Rail] for someone tapping two small stones together.

What about this sound? [Turkey Vultures hissing] They’re Turkey Vultures hissing at one another over a carcass!

What about this plaintive whistle? [Call of a male Black Scoter] That’s the call of a male seaduck, a Black Scoter. 

And what could possibly be going on here? [Caterwauling of Barred Owls] That’s a duet between a male and female Barred Owl!

And this one? [Call of Rhinoceros Auklet] Do we have a miniature cow with a chain saw? No, that’s the call of the Rhinoceros Auklet, a seabird, deep in its nest burrow.

Finally, what bird call resembles the howl of a wolf? [Wail call of the Common Loon] That’s the wail call of the Common Loon.

What an amazing array of sounds birds have to offer.

Ours are brought to you by arrangement with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  Hear them all again at birdnote.org. [Wail call of the Common Loon]

###

Bird vocalizations provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York.  Call of the Yellow Rail ML 125394 recorded by Thomas Sander; Turkey Vultures by Greg Clark; Black Scoter ML 130900 by Gerrit Vyn; Barred Owls ML 63003 David Herr; Rhinoceros Auklet ML 110904 Thomas Sander; Common Loon ML 107963 S.R. Pantle.
BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and produced by John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org      May 2015     Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# sound-09-2009-05-11-MS

Chris Peterson
Writer
Michael Stein
Narrator
Paul Bannick
Photographer
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Tagssound vocalization

Related Resources

Learn more about The Macaulay LibraryAudubon Field Guide: Barred OwlBarred Owls - More at All About Birds

More About These Birds

Barred Owl (Strix varia)

Strix varia

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Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

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