# What was that scream? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008 "2012-11-14T18:09:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/1 "2012-11-14T18:09:59Z")
Last night around 10:00 I heard a scream. I’m 99% sure it was some sort of bird, but I’m not an ornithologist. I can tell a raptor, but unless it’s a bald eagle I couldn’t say what kind it is. Anyway, this is in the area of Birch Bay, WA. We’ve been hearing raucous calls that seem to have lessened recently, that we finally identified as coming from the local herons. (Great blue herons, I think.) The scream last night did not sound like that. It was high-pitched, followed by some lower-pitched noises. ‘Whooping crane’ came to my mind, but I’ve never actually heard one and I don’t know if there are any in the area. I know there are great blue herons, some kinds of ducks, other wading birds (kildeer?), gulls, hawks, bald eagles, crows (or ravens – I can’t tel lthem apart), sparrows, blue jays, some cute little birds whose name I don’t remember, and other birds. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/2 "2012-11-14T18:18:02Z")
Neighbors get a [peacock](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vc9okRUWyE)? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/3 "2012-11-14T18:25:16Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Neighbors get a [peacock](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vc9okRUWyE)? That thought did occur to me, now that you mention it. The vet has a few peacocks, but she’s at least three miles away. It’s possible that someone else has peacocks. It didn’t quite sound like one, but I only heard it once and was like ‘What the _freak!_’ ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/4 "2012-11-14T18:30:12Z")
Could it be a [Cascade red fox](https://dlib.lib.washington.edu/dspace/handle/1773/5517)? Foxes scream. [Here’s a video with various fox calls.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6NuhlibHsM) ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/5 "2012-11-14T18:32:39Z")
[Barn owl](http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Tyto&species=alba)? Check out the “typical call” on that page. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/6 "2012-11-14T18:40:45Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > [Barn owl](http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Tyto&species=alba)? Check out the “typical call” on that page. Hm. The pitch is about right. Seems a little scratchy compared to what we heard though. Of course, it was probably a couple of properties away and unexpected. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/7 "2012-11-14T18:42:55Z")
A “screaming” fox once resulted in a police call to my parents rural neighborhood, being mistaken for a human scream… ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/8 "2012-11-14T18:44:29Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > [Barn owl](http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Tyto&species=alba)? Check out the “typical call” on that page. I believe peacocks sleep at night. They do have one of the weirdest and loudest bird calls you are likely to hear in the temperate world. And they like making them all the time. Barn owls, though, they scream. When I was 19 I spent a summer sleeping in a tipi in a meadow. One night a barn owl settled on the poles and made some comments. Amplified by the megaphone-shaped tipi . . . it was like the angel of death had arrived for our souls. We were disturbed. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/9 "2012-11-14T19:33:44Z")
You don’t live next door to Mr. Wilhelm, do you? ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/10 "2012-11-15T00:28:35Z")
It’s coming from _inside_ your house!! ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/11 "2012-11-15T01:17:29Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Hm. The pitch is about right. Seems a little scratchy compared to what we heard though. Of course, it was probably a couple of properties away and unexpected. Another possibility is the Western Screech Owl, which can live up to its name ;). ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/12 "2012-11-15T01:24:49Z")
If this was the southeast, I would have guessed Limpkin-they [sound like a banshee](http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/limpkin/sounds). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/13 "2012-11-15T02:59:55Z")
I played some audio for the SO, and she says it wasn’t a screech so it wasn’t the owl. (As I said, it wasn’t so raspy.) She didn’t think the peacock sounded quite like it, but she says it may have been a peacock. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/14 "2012-11-15T03:07:31Z")
And the fox? ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/15 "2012-11-15T03:12:09Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > You don’t live next door to Mr. Wilhelm, do you? I snorted. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/16 "2012-11-16T12:30:25Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > A “screaming” fox once resulted in a police call to my parents rural neighborhood, being mistaken for a human scream… Yeah, foxes shagging make you think a small child with a speech impediment is being tortured to death. A winner when a densely populated suburb is overrun with the mangy little scavengers and you get to listen to the noise virtually every night… ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/17 "2012-11-16T12:46:41Z")
Foxes do make a blood curdling sound. The Dope helped me figure out the sound in this thread. > **[What animal made this sound?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=656218)** > > Here’s the sound: http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/77240708@N05/7423459176/ Vermont, 9:30 pm June 22, about 50 to 100 feet from the house. It sounded much louder in person than the recording. After an hour or so it went somewhere else and/or went quiet. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/18 "2012-11-16T20:18:56Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > It’s coming from _inside_ your house!! In which case, problem solved: it’s one of his spiders. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/19 "2012-11-16T20:42:51Z")
Funny, that. I only caught a couple GHSs this year. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-scream/641008/20 "2012-11-16T21:11:21Z")
Maybe a Barred Owl? Besides their typical “Who cooks for you?” call, they also make some freaky woman-like screams. You might check out some of the calls on [this page](http://www.owlpages.com/sounds.php).