How to identify a bird call?
 

Is anyone here into birds, or know a site where I can post a recording of a call and have someone identify it? Our neighbourhood has these nocturnal birds (I think - they could be really loud insects) that sit in the tree outside our bedroom window and squawk all night. I've done tons of google searches, but I seem to be turning up a lot of hits for Australia and England, and I know birds are usually quite specific to an area. These seem to be specific to our cul de sac - walking around the neighbourhood at night I can only hear them within a few houses of ours - lovely. I've lived in 5 different cities in my life and only ever heard them here.

I want to know what I can do to get rid of them. I'm not talking about an air rifle or poisoned bird food or anything, just something to discourage them from sitting in this particular tree. If there are more than one in the tree (frequently) we have to shut the window so we can sleep. It's a really grating, irritating sound...

Anyway, here's a recording I made last night:
http://www.calfinancial.ca/bird.mp3
This recording was made standing in the driveway, with the bird in the tree almost directly above, maybe 15-20 feet off the ground.

Any help is appreciated!

Chris

You can get recordings of birds in distress. I understand that you play this tape loop, or whatever it is, they get annoyed and leave. No spray, no traps, no high power air gun, don't know the name of company though.

will have to listen later, the wife is sleeping

pic might be better than recording, are they only about at night?

My father had luck with an application of red fox urine, which is available at serious sporting goods stores apparently, in the saving of his peaches from the squirrels and birds.

I'm no James Bond, but that recording sounds more like frogs to me.

Sounds like an insect to me.

This year we have been inundated with some really big LOUD crickets. Same pattern as your noise but the pitch is different.

That was my other thought.

My father said the same thing when he was here a couple weeks ago. It just seems really loud for an insect. The recording does sound a bit quiet, but I can't imagine an insect making that much volume. But then what do I know? I just want to get rid of them!

I can't get pics of them because I can't see the buggers - they're hidden among the leaves, and they only make noise after dark. Unfortunately they never seem to sit near the streetlights.

The crickets I have know are a good inch or better and are REALLY LOUD.

cicadas are a little larger and are loud enough to hinder conversation

Cicadas make the long rattling or scratching sound that fade in and out over 10 seconds or so, right? And they're not nocturnal, are they?

My vote is for the Green Tree frog.

Wow, I hear that every night. My guess is an insect.

Shoot it and post a picture.

Cicadas are EXTREMELY loud, but that doesn't sound like a cicada. Could be some other insect, but I can tell you that green tree frogs are also very loud. Surprisingly so.

Listen to these

http://allaboutfrogs.org/weird/general/songs.html

I listened to every single one of those (and most on the linked pages too), but no match. The closest was the White's Tree Frog:
http://allaboutfrogs.org/files/sounds/kermsong.wav

But still no cigar.

Here's the Green Tree Frog:
http://allaboutfrogs.org/files/sounds/greentree.wav

Again, definitely no match.

It has to be an insect. We don't have tree frogs this far north.

Ian

Maybe it's a snipe! You know how to catch those, right??

http://www.southernhumorists.com/snipehunting.html

That is an insect, sounds like to me. Wait a few weeks and when the temps drop it will be gone. Try contacting either the biggest university in Ontario or contact someone from the University of Michigan perhaps. Lay it out for the agricultural dept at a big university and you will be in touch with someone who will know just what to do

It's the infamous Yellow Belly Sapsucker.

I think the snipe is native to only New Zealand.

I will say that we have just got through ceceda season down here and they are amazingly loud, easily loud enough to compare with that recording. The ones we have down here do build the noise up slowly, getting progressively louder and then fading off again. The call lasts several seconds but is a continous tone. I don't know if all species make the same call though. We also get all kinds of odd frogs which make similar noises, some of them sound more like a dogs yapping bark than a frog, but I would have thought that it's to cool up there at night for frogs. I can see why you say you thought it was a bird, it does sound a bit sqwauky. I would guess that it is some kind of insect, but I don't know how you go about finding out. Please keep us posted though.