sorry I don't have a recording, I'll try to get one, but I've been hearing a strange call lately at around 8-9 o'clock, sometimes even 10, but rarely, it's quite regular and I've never heard it at day, nor ever seen it. I think it is a bird flying overhead, because it calls twice and sounds like a slow rising 'arrrrr' 'arrrrr' before stopping and I don't hear it again until the next night, it almost sounds like a high pitched crow, but not quite. Any thoughts? If it helps there is also a wetlands/reserve type place literally around the corner with a lake and a big tree in the middle
Masked Lapwing.
I only thought that they had that rapid metallic 'kekekekek' call? But thanks, I'll check it out
Tegan - Melbourne Vic.
Try wood duck.
Wood Duck - often flyovers at dusk near my place as we are near a golf course with heaps of them.
Dave, Sydney.
In the last few weeks I've heard Masked Lapwings make a different call that I've never noticed before. They make sounds similiar to an Australian Wood Duck call but slightly different. This was during the day and within 20 feet of me. The bird call can't be that of a crow unless there is some weird crow activity going on in your area. Crows go to sleep at night unless they are disturbed. I've heard crows call out at night but it is infrequent and spontaneous/random/unpredictable.
Studying the local bird species in my area and comparing it to what your bird is doing - I'm guessing it could be an owl, a raven new to the area and calling out. Some raven species are active after dark for a while. It may also be a water bird of some type. But I'm leaning toward a noctural bird or a semi noctural water bird as the culprit as the noise is regular and consistent. Without hearing the sound the bird makes I can only guess at what it is.
You can easily find out though just by really listening to your local birds when they call out during the day. If you listen to their frequency of tone; the range of the pitches their calls are; and the range of audible sounds they make, you can pretty well guess and know what the bird is even if you haven't heard a bird make that sound before. For example, a White-faced Heron has a low pitched call, and it's calls are very deep in tone. It has various calls. A Tawny Frogmouth, on the other hand, has a low pitched call but it's calls are high pitched. A Torresian Crow has a medium ranged pitched call and are deep in tone. A Superb Fairy Wren has a very high pitched call which is also high in tone. Also, just by knowing this you can generally tell the size of the bird too. The deeper the pitch the larger the bird it is. The higher the pitch the smaller the bird is. The tone of their call varies from deep to high going on the species.
I hope this helps and I hope you understand what I am talking about too?
I'm at Tenterfield, NSW. (Formerly known as "Hyperbirds".)