10206 Noisy screeching night bird

[quote=Maralyn;94950]Every night or rather the early hours of the morning, there is a bird which comes into our yard and screeches a monotonous, very loud and boring noise. A longish screech which is repeated. It wakes us up every night. It is not an owl, we also have one of those and that is quiet in comparison. Ron says he is sure he has seen it and it is big, dark coloured (in the night who knows) with a long bill.
[/quote]

Sounds like my mother in law.:laughs::laughs::laughs::laughs:

A long bill, with a loud and boring noise, keeps you up at night?
Sounds like someone from the legal profession to me.
Phil.

Probably an owl.....

It could be a "Squacco" - a night Heron - especially if you are near water.

[ATTACH]2090[/ATTACH]

Thank you for the "Squacco" tip. I had also heard similar sounds at night and we are on the river. I have seen similar birds around, particularly on the rocks in front of the house; however, I did not know what kind of sound they made and also I ignored the fact that they were nocturnal birds. I have always seen them around at dusk.

Almost certainly a Barn Owl ! They do stop sometime but in the Uk make most noise in the Spring!

We had a problem bird earlier this year. Night after night it would sing its little heart out........all bloody night long. It was a Nightingale, & it's song was wonderfully complex & melodious. It was lovely & I used to drift off to sleep to it & wake up to it but my other half, Sprat, is a very light sleeper & developed murderous intentions. She has no soul.
Pilch

thank you for your suggestions.
Yes, we live by the River Melfa, about 150 yards away. I do think you may be right in that it is a night heron as the way Ron described it looks like one I have looked on the google images.
"A big bird, long beak, mean looking".
We do have an owl who lives in our barn and we hear it screech but it is different again, like a "hissing" noise and intermittant like breathing. I thought the house was haunted with the late Mrs Lani as I could hear someone breathing. I went into the loo, the window was open and I could hear the breathing sound. Then realised it was the "hissing" screeching noise we often hear.

We do have a porcupine living nearby as well. I was gobsmacked to see it late one evening as we were driving into our lane and was so tempted to get out of the car but didn't relish the idea of being turned into a sieve!!!! Do they make noises? This poor creature was caught in our headlights with next doors dog the other side. It soon scarpered into the bushes. I was amazed as to how big it was.

Well back to the night heron, any clues how to get it to go and screech somewhere else?

Also any idea how to deal with small packs of dogs that sometimes venture into our courtyard. They find nothing to eat so disappear after a while but not before they have had a fight with each other causing a right commotion in the night.

I return to the UK for a good nights sleep. I live on the edge of a village and the silence is deafening!
maralyn

Hi
IT could be a screech owl, I have them here in Lunigina, search it on You Tube

Well, now I am totally confused, as I checked on Youtube and the sound I hear at night is very similar. But then, I also have some herons around. I think I am going to stay up all night when I will go there, checking what is going on.

We have a noise we hear every night through the summer, and, the melodious noise is at this moment drifting through my window as I tap......Clatter,clatter,brum,brum,brum clatter, rattle brum, screech, screech,whine. The sound of the nocturnal farmer on his trattore chingolarta.
bunch

I'm almost sure it will be a Squacco night Heron and doubt very much any owls you hear will be Screech owls - more likely to be Scops owls - which have a high pitched shriek and then a softer snuffley horse whinnying sound which lasts for a few seconds.

The Squacco is obviously after the fish and I doubt you will get rid of him if there is a plentiful supply - until he decides to go elsewhere. Doubt you'll get rid of the owls either - but why would you want to? They will keep the rodent population well under control for you.

[quote=Bunch;95059]We have a noise we hear every night through the summer, and, the melodious noise is at this moment drifting through my window as I tap......Clatter,clatter,brum,brum,brum clatter, rattle brum, screech, screech,whine. The sound of the nocturnal farmer on his trattore chingolarta.
bunch[/quote]

thats really strange.............some nights i hear
boom, shaggallala, boom, shaggallala...........only to look out the window and see the All Blacks training in the garden :laughs::laughs::laughs:

You could get a gun and shoot it. If you are very good at shooting, you can win a gold medal in the Olympics! Many Italians win such medals, and I expect they have all practised on noisy birds. The very best of them (medal winners, I mean) have learnt how to shoot very accurately by killing those noisy tree grillos. Now that is truly skilled stuff!

Noisy tree gorillas! Do you have apes where you come from? ...Oh sorry Noisy tree grillos...all this sun and early mornings does weird things to ones eyesight.
S

I emailed a pictures of Night Herons to Ron who is still in Italy and he said that was definitely the bird he has seen. Problem solved.

Have to say we are anti guns but Ron has just bought a catapult! But not for the birds (or the gorillas!!!) but for any stray dogs which have on a few occasions wandered into our garden and started fighting. More to frighten them than hurt them and hopefully scare them away.
Thanks everyone for your input in solving what to me is a very annoying noise but now I know what it is maybe it won't annoy me so much when I go there.
maralyn

Get Ron to use a hosepipe instead Maralyn, probably safer/ kinder (on the dogs) and more effective.
A