Karen, Your nocturnal calling critter sounds like it might be a flying squirrel. I heard one for my first time at a friend's house, also in Medina Co. Everything about your description matches what I heard. Very mournful and ventriloquistic. Anybody know of a good sound file link so that we might all learn to recognize this one? Thanks. Craig Rieker Parma OH ----- Original Message ----- From: "KG" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 2:56 PM Subject: [Ohio-birds] I.D. Night Caller? > At my mother's house in southwest Medina county last night I heard a > bird call I could not identify. Mom says it has been calling for a > week or more -- only after dark and until very late at night (at least > until she finally falls asleep). She does not hear it during daylight > hours. It is a lone bird, none of its calls are returned. In 31 years > living there she has never heard anything similar. The call itself is > a single plaintive descending shriek... 8-12 seconds apart, very loud, > fairly clear. I don't believe it was an owl -- certainly none I'm > familiar with. Its quality reminded me of a gull call, but much > louder. I wonder if it could be some sort of misplaced domestic fowl. > The calls are louder and softer, to suggest the caller is facing > sometimes away and sometimes toward us. It seems to be emanating from > approximately the same area every night, about 1/8 mile away, at a > property that currently is unoccupied. Probably overgrown grassy and > shrubby area with saplings -- > a pond and dense woods are nearby. > > Any ideas? > Karen Gray > Summit County - Copley Twp ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]