Lately we've been hearing a rather strange animal sound at night that we've never heard before. It's kind of a whistling/yelling sound that starts of quieter and gets louder and more intense then just stops abruptly after a couple seconds. There's no warble or vibration to it, it's just kind of a straight horn-like sound. It sort of sounds like whatever animal that it is, it's in distress. But if it was an animal getting attacked, this wouldn't keep happening over and over night after night. I've tried looking up some common suburban critters and the sounds they make, and thus far I've ruled out raccoon's, opossums, groundhogs, moles, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and cats. Skunks and red foxes were remotely close, but still no cigar. I'm in northeast Ohio, and still at a loss of what these sounds could possibly be coming from. They don't sound like anything a bird or insect would make either. Any ideas?
I cannot relate to your sound but over here there are strange noises at night particularly now that it's rainy season already. First and foremost is the croaking of big toads. Last night there was a concert by the toads until dawn. The cicada and bats have also strange sounds, not to forget the ducks and goats. Oh yes, so many animals around here that we had learned to live with.
Do you believe in the existence of cryptids? In the past there have been reports . . . . . . sightings of strange creatures which haven't been seen before. The sounds you describe sound pretty much the same as those [descriptions] given by people who claim to have heard or seen the said cryptid/jersey devil. The sound made by the creature according to one person was something like a scream, a squawk and whistling . . .
No, I don't know what those might be. Where I am we get a lot of night noises from critters, birds, cats and all sorts. Some of them are not known to me. I just ignore them and stay locked up LOL I'm not going out to investigate! I hope it's not anything sinister.
We get plenty of cats screeching at night as well as the occasional urban fox. These aren't really a nuisance though, it's just a part of everyday life that you get used to. I live just outside the city centre though so the wildlife in my area is generally limited to pigeons and rats!
I heard something similar the other night. I thought the neighbors were drunk and howling at the moon at first, it was difficulty to tell through the closed windows. I think it might have been cats in heat, but with the influx of large coyotes into the neighborhood, perhaps it was them. Is there any construction nearby? Some of the woods in the area here are being torn down (unfortunately) to create more homes, as well as a major highway development, and the coyotes and some other animals are being displaced, so we're having to get used to new sightings and odd sounds.
Coyotes have been moving into the inner cities in many areas. They have lost a lot of their fear of humans, and people do not shoot at them in the city like they would when a coyote invades a henhouse on someone's farm. Animal Control does try to catch them, but they are also very hard to trap. There are even pictures of coyotes riding on the subways. It is shocking to think that an animal that has always been hard to even spot in the forest is now moving into towns and large cities; but they are. It is entirely possible that the noise that you are hearing at night is from coyotes, especially if you live in a larger city.
This has been going on for a few days now, and honestly I don't ever recall hearing sounds like this at night before, ever. Even my cats have picked up on it, as they're glaring out the screens all anxious like they spotted something when it's happening. I couldn't remember the name of the instrument when I originally posted this, but it almost kind of sounds like a sliding flute if that makes any sense. I'm thinking if it was an animal in distress for some reason, or some animals in heat/hooking up, or even an animal giving birth, that would only be a one time thing. That's not something that would be happening on a nightly basis in the same spot in our backyard. Perhaps I'll see if my phone can record the sound, and I will share it here.
Here is a youtube video with the sound of coyotes howling . This should give you an idea of whether or not you are hearing a coyote. I am assuming that you are living in town or a populated area. If you are out in the country, you could also be hearing a cougar scream. That is one of the scariest sounds that I have ever heard, and it sounds like an actual scream; but as far as I know , cougars would not be coming anywhere close to a town or city like the coyotes are doing.
Why don't you try to set up a hidden cam at night with night vision so that you can see what is it that's being so noisy every night? Change the position of the cam every now and then if you can't catch what is making that sound. With patient and persistence, you will eventually get to find out what it is!
