BirdNote; Strange Sounds
- Transcript
BirdNote®
Strange Sounds
Written by Chris Peterson
This is BirdNote.
[Call of Yellow Rail] Some bird calls can sound like somethin’ else altogether! For example, one could easily mistake the call of a male Yellow Rail, [Call of Yellow Rail] for someone tapping two small stones together.
What about this sound? [Turkey Vultures hissing] They’re Turkey Vultures hissing at one another over a carcass!
What about this plaintive whistle? [Call of a male Black Scoter] That’s the call of a male seaduck, a Black Scoter.
And what could possibly be going on here? [Caterwauling of Barred Owls] That’s a duet between a male and female Barred Owl!
And this one? [Call of Rhinoceros Auklet] Do we have a miniature cow with a chain saw? No, that’s the call of the Rhinoceros Auklet, a seabird, deep in its nest burrow.
Finally, what bird call resembles the howl of a wolf? [Wail call of the Common Loon] That’s the wail call of the Common Loon.
What an amazing array of sounds birds have to offer.
Ours are brought to you by arrangement with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Hear them all again at birdnote.org. [Wail call of the Common Loon]
###
Bird vocalizations provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Call of the Yellow Rail ML 125394 recorded by Thomas Sander; Turkey Vultures by Greg Clark; Black Scoter ML 130900 by Gerrit Vyn; Barred Owls ML 63003 David Herr; Rhinoceros Auklet ML 110904 Thomas Sander; Common Loon ML 107963 S.R. Pantle.
BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and produced by John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org May 2009 / May 2011 / May 2015 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# sound-09-2009-05-11-MS sound-09b
- Series
- BirdNote
- Episode
- Strange Sounds
- Producing Organization
- BirdNote
- Contributing Organization
- BirdNote (Seattle, Washington)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip-4f8b97c9d04
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip-4f8b97c9d04).
- Description
- Episode Description
- What an amazing array of sounds birds have to offer! The call of a male Yellow Rail sounds like someone tapping two small stones together. And Turkey Vultures hissing at one another over a carcass sound like a snarling lion. The duet between the male and female Barred Owls seen here is especially raucous. BirdNote gets most of its sounds from The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds.
- Created Date
- 2011-05-06
- Asset type
- Episode
- Topics
- Science
- Subjects
- Birds
- Rights
- Sounds for BirdNote stories were provided by the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Xeno-Canto, Martyn Stewart, Chris Peterson, John Kessler, and others. Where music was used, fair use was taken into consideration. Individual credits are found at the bottom of each transcript.
- Media type
- Sound
- Duration
- 00:02:00.215
- Credits
-
-
:
Producing Organization: BirdNote
Writer: Peterson, Chris
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
BirdNote
Identifier: cpb-aacip-f16523dba51 (Filename)
Format: Hard Drive
Generation: Master
Duration: 00:01:45
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
- Citations
- Chicago: “BirdNote; Strange Sounds,” 2011-05-06, BirdNote, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed July 9, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-4f8b97c9d04.
- MLA: “BirdNote; Strange Sounds.” 2011-05-06. BirdNote, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. July 9, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-4f8b97c9d04>.
- APA: BirdNote; Strange Sounds. Boston, MA: BirdNote, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-4f8b97c9d04