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 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]