Hi guys, last night around 10.30, we heard a bird call I hadn't heard since I was a kid. It was a slow repeated 'COOK COO'. The rhythm of the call was very much like a big old Cuckoo Clock. I think it was of a similar timbre to a Bar-shouldered Dove, but a lower pitch and maybe half the speed.
I have run through the Simpson and Day's birdsong CD but couldn't find it there. If it's about tonight I will try to record it.
Any ideas please, it was a beautiful sound in the still of night …..
Where abouts did you hear it? What kind of surroundings and in which state?
The powerful owl has a very far-carrying wo-wooo call.
Hi! yep sorry guys I forgot the basics. We are in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Qld. It was calling from high in a 15M tree in our back yard. And it was exactly the strangely familiar "Cook Coo" call I recall hearing in my childhood.
VJ
Hi VJ,
It may have been a Southern Boobook. I recently heard my first SB. I am in Brisbane.
The bird I heard sounded a bit like a turtle dove, saying "hoo hoo" with the second note of a lower pitch than the first note. It was at night.
I use the xeno canto website to identify bird calls. Type in the name of the bird and you'll be taken to a page containing the sound files. That's how I identified the Southern Boobook.
Regards,
Andy.
Hi! Andy ... you nailed it ... A Southern Boobook Owl it was. Thanks for the ID. A first for Wendy and I, much excitement.
Thanks also for the WEB site we will check it out.
Cheers!
VJ
Hi VJ,
Glad you were able to identify it. Have you been lucky enough to see the Boobook? I've heard it on just one night, but haven't heard it since and have never seen one.
Just curious - do you mind saying which suburb you're in? My sister is in Algester and last year had an owl (which we think was a Boobook) in a tree across the road in the daytime. We think it was temporarily disoriented during a massive storm. My sister and her boyfriend thought it might have been injured, so they held out their umbrella to see if it would climb onto it so they could take it inside and call the RSPCA. (The bird was fine, and ignored their umbrella.)
Andy.