Guest JenJen of Oldstones Posted March 13, 2015 Posted March 13, 2015 Thank you so much Aaron! Could you merge it with the urban BIGFOOT thread? I think that's the most appropriate place for it. (No idea why my phone made BIGFOOT all caps!)
JKH Posted March 14, 2015 Posted March 14, 2015 Hey Aaron, doesn't this still belong in GD though? T'is pretty long-running.
AaronD Posted March 14, 2015 Posted March 14, 2015 The original Urban Bigfoot thread was locked and this one was started back in Nov.
Guest JenJen of Oldstones Posted March 14, 2015 Posted March 14, 2015 Hi Cotter, thanks for the suggestions. I looked up Northern Saw Whet owls and they are so CUTE! But the audio I found doesn't match what I heard, and looking at range maps I see that they only rarely come into Texas and tend to stay in the Guadalupe and Davis Mts and maybe the Panhandle. That's nowhere close enough to Central Texas to be a possible source for the whistles I heard.
Sunflower Posted March 14, 2015 Posted March 14, 2015 Try leaving a recorder on your balcony. If you have a flower pot, even better, cover with straw or dried grass, it won't degrade the sounds you record.
Guest JenJen of Oldstones Posted March 18, 2015 Posted March 18, 2015 Hi Sunflower, I should probably do that since I'm really curious about all the animal noises I might hear and I will probably never live this close to the woods again (I'm moving in a couple of months). But I just can't afford a $200 recorder at the moment. I managed to upload one of my whistles in the woods recordings to YouTube. You can hear whistles at :04, :24, :43, and 1:12.
Sunflower Posted March 18, 2015 Posted March 18, 2015 Hi Jen, I'm sorry but I don't hear anything that I would call a whistle. The last noise sounded like someone's cockatoo from your complex maybe???????
AaronD Posted March 19, 2015 Posted March 19, 2015 Jen are you sure it'd cost $200 for a recorder? I'm thinking a simple recorder could be gotten for $40 or less....IDK
Guest JenJen of Oldstones Posted March 19, 2015 Posted March 19, 2015 Sunflower - it is a bit difficult to hear the whistles. As for the last one being a cockatoo, it did sound kind of like that but the apartments below me were vacant at the time and I'd never heard any pet birds in the building before or since then. Also I don't know how well a cockatoo could handle winter temps in the 20s-30s; that night was very cold. I'll try and upload my other recordings from the same night. The whistles might be easier to hear in them. Aaron - I think it was JKH who said that his digital recorder cost $200 so I was assuming they all were that much. I'll check Amazon to see about the pricing.
JKH Posted March 19, 2015 Posted March 19, 2015 Yep, but I'm sure you can find something for a lot less, look for the other brands I mentioned. It's been a few years, prices may have dropped. Other resources could be pawn shops, and ask around if you know any musicians. Refurbished devices can be fine, also. I'm sorry that you have to move, it sounds like a cool place.
Lake County Bigfooot Posted March 19, 2015 Posted March 19, 2015 (edited) Hey Jen, what I hear in recording most reminds me of a flying squirrel sound, high pitched and kind of squeaky, but there are a variety of birds that will make sounds at night, I have recorded similar whistling sounds at night, but I have always placed them as bird sounds. From what I know of a Sasquatch whistle, it can sound metallic or human, or owlish, it is really hard to tell what might make a whistle in the woods without placing the whistler in a tree or on the ground. The gut impression is small animal or bird. I some how think that a Sasquatch might have a slightly louder whistle, though they are incredible imitators so who knows what they might use to communicate. The best thing to do would be to place a recorder out as others mentioned, also comb the area looking for prints, if the big guy is around he usually give himself up by making other sounds, or leaving prints somewhere near that creek! The area looks promising and even if the sounds you heard were not Sasquatch, the area looks like one they might occasion. Edited March 19, 2015 by Lake County Bigfooot
Guest Posted March 19, 2015 Posted March 19, 2015 I agree with a lot of what has been said already. As a parrot owner, yes that last whistle sounds very much like a cockatoo or actually any parrot. But you're right about it being entirely too cold for one to be outside. Escaped maybe? It would not take too much time before a tropical bird, escapee or not would get quiet and be huddled somewhere trying to stay warm. A lot of birds have whistles in their calls but the list of birds that actually do night calls is not very long. This is intriguing and I love a mystery! It is why I came out of lurkdom to reply. I'm intrigued by you saying that when you were initially listening to this that it was ongoing all night and that the whistles evolved. Number one as a bird lover I would say to you, NO bird unless it was a bird of prey will do something like this for such an extended length of time. Birds know they are prey and for one or two to have this behavior night after night and be constantly giving away their location just sounds completely out of the norm to me. It just doesn't make sense to me. Not that time of year and at those temps. Could it be some little furry like a squirrel or the like? That strikes me as a possibility. I would research the normal little furries for your area during that time of year and see if whistles are in their repertoire of sounds. This evolving all night long part of it really has me curious and even if you discover there could be a little furry that could be responsible I want to know what it is! LOL To add to the bird observation...a bird of prey (lots have whistles) would be unlikely to be doing it because they too would be giving away their location and possible prey would be hiding. Just thought of that. I lean toward a small furry something....but who knows? I applaud your observations because this is what alerts you to anomalies. At our old house "something" was whistling from the woods and calling our dogs. Replicating my whistle so perfectly that the dogs were running to the fence. Never could figure out who and my attempts to walk toward it meant silence would reign and it would stop. I would go back in the house and it would start again. Intriguing huh? Just occurred to me also, IF a bird were responsible even through the night, it would change location frequently in order to keep predators from figuring out its location. Not trying to make light of your observation at all. It is responsible to eliminate possible local wildlife first. I will be thinking on this....
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