Bird Id help

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cwmoose

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Well I have looked, googled for hours and can't find it. There is a bird in our turkey woods, that I can't identify
It is super active at night, and semi active during the day. My best impression is a fast "whupwhupwhupwhp" or maybe a low pitched "whoopwhoopwhoopwhoop". I haven't even laid eyes on this thing, I just hear it.
Oh yes Eastern Ontario woods.
 
Sounds like a grouses mating call. It beats its chest slowly and quickly picks up speed.

"thump..thump..thump..thumpthumpthumpthumpthump..thump....thump"

You can get about 6 feet from it before it'll do anything.
 
As often happens once you ask a question you find the answer five minutes later. I am pretty sure it's a Boreal owl. Sideburns I had a grouse walk right by me this morning while I was trying to call in a turkey, either he did not care, or the Ghillie suit really works well.
 
There is a website that gives all the owl sounds. I have not found it for a while but it covers all of NA.
 
S1de8urnz said:
Sounds like a grouses mating call. It beats its chest slowly and quickly picks up speed.

"thump..thump..thump..thumpthumpthumpthumpthump..thump....thump"

You can get about 6 feet from it before it'll do anything.
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X2
I thought the farmer down the road from me was having problems with his tractor. would run for 30s or so then stall. found out in the summer during the hunting course it was a grouse. only seen mine once and didn't have the 12Ga with me to take him out to dinner.
 
fiddler said:
Chickens (grouse) roost at night time. When you're at the bottom of the food chain, its best not to attract night time predators. More likely an owl looking for his sweetie.
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Better tell that to the Ruffed Grouse I've been running into the last week or two.;)


Grizz
 
Is there any water around? the description sounds like the 'winnowing' of a snipe. Noise made by air rushing over the tail feathers during the male's aerial display. They carry on all night and during the day. Hard to see it 'in the act' because they move fast and are high in the sky. Boreal Owl is a possibility, but it seems a bit late for them to be calling, and I'm not sure they're found that far south. Check out the snipe sound here: (ignore the first part, which is the 'call') http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wilsons_Snipe/sounds You can type in any species in the search bar and listen to various other suspects.
 
Grouse don't do their "drumming" at night. I think badgreenbird has it right. Snipe are still winnowing in my area. The odds of it being a Boreal or Hawk Owl, especially at this time of year in that area, are virtually nil.
 
beretta boy said:
I'm very familiar with ruffed grouse drumming ... and yes, I've heard them in the pitch dark drumming !
Not as often or as frequent as early morning, but drumming none the less ... like 2:00 / 3:00 a.m. !
Not a bright, moonlit night either !
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I stand corrected! Thanks...I had never heard, or heard of, grouse being nocturnal in any way. But turkeys gobble in the dark, so why not?

I can't help but get a bit of a chuckle out of this thread. A snipe winnowing and a grouse drumming don't sound very much alike, certainly not enough for a person who has heard both to confuse them. Then we try to describe bird calls with "whoopwhoopwhoop", "whupwhupwhup" or whatever, and all hell breaks loose. :) Not meant as a crack at you, cwmoose...you should hear some of the verbal descriptions and imitations of bird calls done by birders!
 
They'd fly all night making that Whoo-Whoo-Whoo noise and I had no idea what kind of bird it was. Early one morning they we're still at it...I snapped that picture, had no idea Snipes made that noise, or could fly that high or fast
 
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