Aaron and Ohio birders:

I need help identifying what I believe is a bird, but I can only describe
the habitat and the sound it makes.

I have heard the exact same "call" on four different occasions, always in
similar habitat under similar conditions in a similar pattern:  maybe 5 or 6
times over a 12 to 15 minute period of time.  This evening, for the first
time, I had a repeat experience at a location where I heard the same sound
last summer.  (an OBBAII block, 59D6NW) The "bird" called maybe seven or
eight times over a 15 minute period, then was silent.

Habitat:  Small stream that rarely or never dries up, clean enough to have
small minnows, crawfish, etc.  The one at my uncle's farm is spring-fed.
Downstream, it sometimes dries up, but in the location where I have heard
this call, it never has, in my memory.  No cattails, only very dense grasses
and weeds, waist high or higher.  Some trees, mostly willows but where I
heard it tonight there are walnut trees.  As I said, this is the second time
I've heard the call at this general location - last time was 100 yards or so
upstream from where I heard it tonight.  Once I heard the same call at the
wetland where the runoff goes into a small stream near Black Hand Gorge. The
call was at the streamside, not the wetland.  The amount of trees, and the
dense grass and weeds made an identical habitat.  Then, last year, I heard
the same sound while working on OBBAII in 59C6CW.  That time, there were
denser trees, but still enough light for very dense vegetation along the
stream bed.

The sound is hard to describe.  In pitch, it is similar to some of the
sounds a robin makes, but it is VERY sharp and harsh, like it ought to be
some kind of rail.  It starts out with a sharp loud harsh PEEK, then seven
descending rapid bouncy notes, decreasing slightly in volume as they
descend:  Kind of like PEEK-keh-keh-keh-keh-keh-keh-keh.  The subject
repeats this call every two or three minutes, always hidden in the grass.  I
watched the grass carefully, every time, and have never been able to detect
moving grass, although the sound seems to move.  Last year, I tried
following the sound, unsuccessfully.  Tonight, I wasn't tick-proofed, so I
didn't go into the tall dense grass.  After about 10 minutes, the calling
stopped.  It occurred just at sunset, as was the case last year when I heard
it near that location.  However, both of the other occasions were very early
morning.

I have listened to recordings, and even got out my old Audubon videos, and I
can't find anything that makes this kind of sound at all.

I have a poor memory, but I have a very good ear.  I know that what I'm
hearing, though similar in pitch to that of a robin, is much different in
tone, not nearly as musical as a robin.  Also, the descending sharp clucking
sound is much faster than the occasional cuk-cuk-cuk that a robin makes.
And, robins rarely hold to an exact pattern of 7 notes.  There were robins
there tonight, and I could listen to them for comparison.  Further, the
sound was clearly coming from the grass along the stream, not from a fence,
tree limb, etc., where one would expect a robin to be.

If it helps, I did see a green heron in this location last week, but the
sounds for green heron provided on any recordings I have are nothing like
what I heard tonight.  I don't have a recording of a least bittern, but
don't they generally prefer a habitat of cattails, with wetlands rather than
a stream?

Any ideas?

Margaret Bowman
Licking Co., OH

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