Sounds Of The Night

[FarArcher]

Lake, in my business, I used FLIR's for years.

 

The color palette is certainly pretty, but it's also a bit busy.  By busy, I mean, it's a bit more difficult to determine shapes and details when compared to the black/white palette.

 

At night, when we get our own nightvision - such as it is - we don't see color either.

 

Compare the black/white gray scale to the color palette's, and I think you'll see the difference. 

[TritonTr196]

8 hours ago, FarArcher said:

Lake, in my business, I used FLIR's for years.

 

The color palette is certainly pretty, but it's also a bit busy.  By busy, I mean, it's a bit more difficult to determine shapes and details when compared to the black/white palette.

 

At night, when we get our own nightvision - such as it is - we don't see color either.

 

Compare the black/white gray scale to the color palette's, and I think you'll see the difference. 

 

 

The black and white is all I use on my scout 3 and scout tk. Some of those color schemes just plain wear my eyes out and can make you dizzy looking at them for any length of time in the darkness. Your eyes have a hard time adjusting back to the darkness once your through looking at it. The black and white is less tiresome and simply the best one.

[Lake County Bigfooot]

Yes I use the greyscale hot spot mode in my IPhone Flir, it seems to work best in cooler temps with more contrast. I hope to be able to therm a bit more as the activity picks up, right now I am trying to determine if it is back. It could be based on several things, I put a jar of tightly sealed peanut butter out by my recorder, just to up the anti a bit. If that completely disappears over the next few weeks I will know. It is not a spot where people would venture or notice too well. I also have a fire pit in that area. For years when we were having fires my wife and I thought that something was watching us, but we thought it was just normal wildlife and would hear noises of movement close by. I have not had a real fire since my encounter, I think it is time once again to roll out the fire pit. Late fall is my favorite time to burn off some of the dead wood from around the property, and that happens to be my longest duration of activity in my limited experience since 2013. I will keep you posted as I am now recording every night. It is at the very least a time of anticipation.

[Lake County Bigfooot]

Last nights recording yielded a possible woodknock and a possible approach, now with the jar of previously opened peanut butter I would expect some sniffing from deer and coyotes, whatever it was looked and did not sniff, that is curious. The jar is right next to the recorder so it would be obvious. Also the woodknock followed 17 minutes after putting out the recorder, perhaps and all clear, because that is when I would have been in bed and lights out. Then after I picked up the recorder to bring it in and listen I heard another possible single woodknock, interesting...it usually starts like this....a lot of little things.....then I start capturing more blatant stuff as they ease into the situation....although the bumrush I made into the marsh earlier in the summer may keep them on edge.

[Lake County Bigfooot]

I am coming upon a realization, these creatures are reacting to my behavior, when I bum rushed the marsh back in July all activity stopped. But it usually does anyway, then resumes around now. Lately, I have been getting some single wood knocks, that is what I usually hear at dawn or dusk when I go outside. It seems to be the indicator they are around, or should I say he, meaning the juvenile. Normally I get more pronounced multiple woodknocks and coyote activity, and even some vocalizations after that, but so far just a couple of possible animal kills and some single wood knocks, an approach or two. It seems this guy is getting more educated. I mean at first he was vocalizing like it did not matter a bit, now he is down to single wood knocks, and he is making his own kills from what I can gather. I might not have him around for too many more years, he is growing up.....please leave me a print or two....and another whoop for the recorder...summer number 4 now, 2013,2014,2015,2016. I have progressively been getting less vocalizations, and now reduced numbers of knocks, though I should not talk so fast, because before the bum rush I got several patterns of 8 wood knocks, or 3 then 5. Mind you, when I say wood knock this is what I mean....it is more like wood banging. Mostly softwoods around the marsh, not much hard wood to bang...at 3 am it will wake you up...WARNING VOLUME DOUBLED ON BANGING MOAN HOWL....TURN DOWN YOUR VOLUME....My 80 some year old, unable to sleep neighbor, probably knows they exist, maybe even has seen them, I think they have been interacting with him over the years in some capacity, he sits outside on the porch and listens to the activity. I have not heard him lately so I am worried he past away...that is who is always coughing in the background...he must have a lung condition...I know he smoked.

five wood knocks.mp3

Banging Moan Howl.mp3

Edited September 13, 2016 by Lake County Bigfooot

[Lake County Bigfooot]

This is just a heads up, I have recorded some owl sounds that you could easily mistake as possible Sasquatch sounds, a juvenile great horned owl does have a bleeding sort of call that can be mistaken for a whoop, When I actually heard real whoops they were much more distinguishable in tone and in texture, the great horned juvenile will not be a clear sound but a bit scratchy, but has a similar pitch and cadence, even ascending on the tail end.  I think it is important to know what is what in the night, as so many animals you do not hear during the daytime present themselves. When heard from a distance such sounds often can be mistaken for possible Sasquatch sounds. The vocal encounter I had was at very close range, less than 50 yards, if it is Sasquatch it will sound more human to you than a bird, that is the distinguishing feature, so much so that me and my wife wrote off the first incident of whoops as being a young child excited from the fireworks, and it was only as I heard them 8 days later at closer range and with a deeper reply that I knew it was not of a human origin.

 

 

Edited September 14, 2016 by Lake County Bigfooot

[gigantor]

On 9/14/2016 at 9:23 AM, Lake County Bigfooot said:

 I think it is important to know what is what in the night, as so many animals you do not hear during the daytime present themselves. When heard from a distance such sounds often can be mistaken for possible Sasquatch sounds.

 

 

 

I agree 100%.

 

We should create a "reference"  thread with known animal sounds so that everyone can have a basis for comparing what we record or hear. I think it would be helpful.

 

[Guest giantman]

12 hours ago, gigantor said:

 

I agree 100%.

 

We should create a "reference"  thread with known animal sounds so that everyone can have a basis for comparing what we record or hear. I think it would be helpful.

 

That would be really helpful but also daytime animals would be nice also.  I recently went looking for signs of Bigfoot in the Uintah mountains in Utah.  I have had a feeling about this certain place for a while now so I went with my dog off trail for a good long hike.  I walked dead quiet and on that hike I felt like I was near them (no way of knowing if that is just my imagination though).  But also I heard two or thee whoops that sounded human to me and two tree knocks but since I have never gone out with anyone in the know I really have no way of knowing what it was.  I also felt after a while like I should leave so I did.

 

I picked the place based on a feeling I get there-- just slightly ominous and spooky but the hike off trail I sort of followed tree falls just exploring the idea that maybe the trees were pushed over and as I have heard maybe they are signs pointing towards something,  The trees were very possibly just natural falls-- none of them were uprooted and moved from where they grew.

 

There is a local smoke shop right at the base of this mountain range and being there one day on a whim I asked the teller if she had ever seen Bigfoot-- I think it is funny to do that sometimes and also sometimes people have and they tell you.  She said that when she  was 11 walking home on a dirt road in that area she and her friend did indeed see one just as clear as day.

Quote

 

 

Edited September 17, 2016 by giantman

[Lake County Bigfooot]

So I have been recording for about 11 days now, I got a wood knock and a small animal in distress then nothing for 10 days. I thought with the full moon activity would return, but as I have mentioned it is cyclical, and all depends on the resources in the area. The activity seems to last about 7 days on average, and then can have a month or more separating the episodes. So they must be traveling in a circle of sorts, stopping for a time in certain areas, then moving on, eventually returning to my marsh for a time. Marshes like the one I live on are spread across this area, with numerous opportunities like this one. I am sure they have some nice honey holes and they just keep it fresh...maybe add a new spot or subtract one based on food availability. I have yet to see a deer this season, which is really odd. Though I have shined them at night with my car in the farmers field on the other side of the marsh so I know they are still around, the coyote activity seems spotty to, that usually gets really consistent around the time longer term activity is present in later October into November, that seems like my prime foraging time, and they may stay longer as this area might serve as an exit point to head south when first snow hits, traveling along the river, snow cover starts in extreme northern Illinois much sooner than say 50 miles south, so I think they make a move southward down the Fox river at that time.

[Lake County Bigfooot]

Skipped recording for the last two nights, I need a little more action to get me to persist, it is just too time consuming. I will wait till I hear something suspicious. My job is slowing down, though I still work a 40 hour week, I am not killing myself like I do all summer as a golf pro. It certainly is nice that it coincides with the fall activity. I have a jar of peanut butter stuck high in the crotch of a tree. It is sealed tightly, it got knocked out of a lower position presumably by a raccoon or coyote. It was still in place last check. I might simply wait till that moves to resume recording, It is placed in the deer blind with the strange rock I pictured earlier in the thread. It is also getting cooler at night, almost ready for some thermal action, so kind of waiting for the first frost to knock the mosquitoes out, living on a marsh they get really thick in the summer months and I am not that big a fan of insect repellents, as that can produce enough odor for anything to smell you.

[JKH]

If you wait until you hear something, you'll miss a lot. My thing is just do it wherever I think may produce interesting results. I've gotten much that way, it doesn't matter if you can't listen right away, the audio is stored. Here's a link that may be of interest. While I don't require all the advice for my purposes, it's true about the differing sonic footprints. A distance like one block can make a difference in the natural sounds.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/28/12609724/record-your-own-soundscapes

 

[MIB]

10 hours ago, JKH said:

If you wait until you hear something, you'll miss a lot.

 

This is true.  Most of the best stuff I've heard occurred **once**, then didn't repeat for months if ever.   If I wasn't already recording, I missed it.   It's very much the same with pictures.   At "the speed of bigfoot", if your camera is not already out and powered up to take a picture, the odds of getting a picture drop dramatically.

 

MIB

[BobbyO]

Here's some numbers for you Lakefrom the SSR, not huge data sets at all unfortunately but it is what it is.

 

Wisconsin : 16 Reports of Non Visual Vocalizations.

 

0 in the months of Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr/May.

 

64% of all reports come from hours of darkness, that number rises to 86% from the last 10 years.

 

Oct/Nov/Dec make up 56% of all reports.

 

Illinois : 28 Reports of Non Visual Vocalizations.

 

Every month represented.

 

71% come from hours of darkness, that number rises to 74% from the last 10 years.

 

Oct/Nov/Dec makes up 39% of all reports.

 

 

[coffee2go]

I have noticed that nearly all of my captured audio that could be related has occurred in the spring and fall months.  Most are in October even though most of the recordings were done over the late spring and summer months when we were visiting the cabin more frequently (the cabin is actually set up to be used year-round).  I think since there are more people at their seasonal cabins during these months that it causes whatever is out there to go deeper into the woods.  I don't think they leave the area during the winter as there have been sightings and tracks found during the winter months fairly close to my location.  Deer are abundant in the area.  I have not tried to leave out food to lure wildlife in.  We have two small dogs that we take out late at night so I would prefer not to have predators around.  I might try the closed jar of peanut butter sometime this fall.

 

Just for the record, I use two recorders every time I record.  I put one on each side of the cabin in the window between the screen and glass.  The cabin is located in the Superior National Forest with mostly seasonal occupants within a 4 to 5 mile radius.  In late fall when the temperature drops down to below freezing I use external microphones on my recorders to preserve battery life.  I do use higher end recorders that are rechargeable, so I am not replacing batteries.

 

I have been using Audacity and listen to every second of my recorders, which I agree is very important.  The last year I decided to use a good set of blue tooth headphones so I could move around and do other things while listening. I have kept log books of all of my recordings with the times and suspicious sounds noted for each night and each recorder.

 

I made a test recording to see what the range of the recorders would be if something knocked on a tree or walked through the woods.  Wood knocks would need to be pretty close to pick up some that I have captured.  I also have a library of animal and bird sounds for comparison.

 

In May of this year i captured two photos of a mountain lion on one of the wildlife cameras I have placed about 15 ft. from the cabin.  One of my goals this year was to capture any sounds that would include young as proof they are living in the area full-time. 

[BobbyO]

Where are you Coffee ?