We have Whistling Kites in our neighbourhood and I think (Though i'm not quite certain it is at night - though sometimes i've heard it so close to us) I hear what appears to be a very big bird, however it is mostly silent. I can hear it at night time when it gets dark after 9pm. It sounds like it's coming from just behind the fence in the reserve and it is flapping and moving around in the trees.
I can hear it when it flaps it's wings as it goes 'FLOOP FLOOP FLOOP FLOOP WHOOSH WHOOSH' and the branches shake violently. It's been staying here for a while and sometimes i have heard the whistling kites get disturbed as they sound really close to us as well, just behind the reserve.
I'd love to see the birds at night even if it is the Whistling Kites but the shrubbery and foilage in the bushes and trees in the park behind our fence make it almost impossible to see through them with a nightvision camera.
I asked to use a torch but my mum has a torch that seems to be too bright and I don't want to stun them, or worse, accidentally blind them.
I have seen nature shows and pictures where the people are shining torches around but they seem to be very large ones and are usually a dullish yellow.
What are these torches?
Do you have fruit bats in your area? They do a lot of flapping around at night.
Yep, sounds like they would be fruit bats.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
I can't answer your question about the torches. You can google to find out. I can hear Owls at night, but don't have a good torch either. I had a look on the net, but found good ones and the ones you can use in the dark , are very expensive
, so I don't have one either. Good luck.
M-L
Something like this perhaps:
Torch Light Yellow - Mobile Phones & Gadgets for sale Sabah - Mudah.my
This is an interesting theory. We used to have fruit bats. They used to make a huge racket at night and would screech a lot. However, this thing is silent, so it's unusual for fruit bats, and I don't know why more aren't coming if they are. However, it's a good theory, but when i've been outside at night I have heard the Whistling Kites being disturbed by the backyard light in roughly the same area.
I still want to verify what this is, could it be a fruit bat, Whistling Kite, or some other type of large bird, i'll post the results here as well. Once I use one of the torches, or course.
Hey Night Parrot, this torch looks like it's a good idea, except i'm not using it for 'that' kind of hunting (if you know what I mean) - i'll keep an eye on it.
Thanks!
I don't usually have fruit bats but they were here when the floods in qld drove them west. They didn't make any noise apart from lots of flapping around
Hey Camero
Go to the base of the trees during the day look around for blossoms from the flowering eucalypts, thats a good indication that flying foxes are in the trees while in full bloom. The noise and squabble sounds like lorrikets. In the night you can feel the blossoms falling like a light shower when you stand under the trees.
See it! Hear it!
Mid-North Coast NSW
That's pretty interesting.
They used to make a huge racket at our place especially when we had our old dead now gone Pepper Tree.
They went away afterwards.
Maybe they could be back?
I still think it's the Whistling Kites though but could also more likely be Fruit Bats.
Hey guys,
I just checked the reserve today this morning. There's no signs of flowers, blossoms or anything on the ground underneath any tree. I checked around every one. I did find a couple of purpously dug holes we've had in our garden before. I wonder if they're made by rats? They're quite large and deep holes. Definetally look like that they've been purpously dug since they've not been there before.
holes in the ground could be bandicoots they make shallow conical holes, anyway what I was trying to say is that flying foxes are noisy like lorikeets they don't sound like them.
See it! Hear it!
Mid-North Coast NSW
Don't worry, Darin, I knew what you were talking about. I know what Flying Foxes sound like ! :)
Though I didn't see any blossoms on the ground I did HEAR a Fruit Bat last night.....so maybe that's what it is?
The holes are shallow but are a fair way down, and are pretty wide. Since they're the same kind of holes I had seen in our backyard before I guess it's coming from the same animal (Possible Bandicoot!)