# What animal am I hearing? (Paging Colibri?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 28, 2007, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-am-i-hearing-paging-colibri/417175 "2007-08-28T00:44:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-am-i-hearing-paging-colibri/417175/1 "2007-08-28T00:44:42Z")
It’s half past one in the morning and there’s an animal making [this](http://www.gurman.co.uk/stuff/sound.mp3) sound outside my window. I can’t tell exactly where it’s coming from. What am I hearing? I live in the south of England. It sounds like a bird, but could it be the yip of a fox? (BTW, the low percussive sound in the middle of the clip is extraneous - it’s the compressor on my fridge) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-am-i-hearing-paging-colibri/417175/2 "2007-08-28T01:35:03Z")
Beats me. I can’t claim any expertise on European bird calls. It does sound to me like a bird, however, and not a fox or other mammal. Sorry not to be of more help. If you were asking about Panama, Peru, or central Africa I might have a better idea. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-am-i-hearing-paging-colibri/417175/3 "2007-08-28T01:56:40Z")
Doesn’t sound like any critter I know in the Southern US, but, [here’s a link](http://www.wildsong.demon.co.uk/BA/bioacoustica.html) that might help you, Mangetout. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-am-i-hearing-paging-colibri/417175/4 "2007-08-28T15:14:19Z")
It sounds to me like a Tawny Owl. Listen to the female yelps [here](http://www.godsownclay.com/tawnyowlcalls1.html). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-am-i-hearing-paging-colibri/417175/5 "2007-08-28T17:59:38Z")
Oh, sorry about that **Mangetout** – that was me. I was wondering around drunk in your neighborhood last night and passed out in the bushes in someone’s yard. Must’ve been yours. Can you do something about that fridge noise, though? It kept waking me up! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-am-i-hearing-paging-colibri/417175/6 "2007-08-28T20:29:52Z")
[QUOTE=yoyodyne] It sounds to me like a Tawny Owl. Listen to the female yelps [here](http://www.godsownclay.com/tawnyowlcalls1.html). [/QUOTE] I think you’ve nailed it - the recording on that site does sound exactly like what I heard (my recording made it sound a bit more reedy than it really was) - my wife suggested an owl, but we checked the sound clips on the RSPB website and none of them matched - I guess they didn’t go into as much detail as your link. Thanks for that. So we have a Tawny Owl in the neighbourhood. Cool.