[wisb] Chuck-will's-widow sounds RE: Jackson County Nightjar "slam"
- From: "Eric Howe" <wibirder@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2011 04:11:01 -0500
Jenny W., John D. Stan R. and I had a similar experience last weekend.
Various additional Chuck-will's-widow sounds may be heard in this clip:
http://youtu.be/Z3NSSvTdrk8
[Note: The softer calls may be heard by default quality just fine, but you
may wish to load the clip at 720pHD to hear it a tad better; external PC
speakers may help too.]
On this clip, ~15 wing flaps heard between time ~0:18-0:23.
At ~0:28-0:31 seconds 'click' like calls.
Between 0:33-0:47 seconds, perhaps(?), the "Growl and Cluck" calls are
heard.
As Peter F. noted, BNA Online mentions various sounds:
For the wing flapping, BNA Online describes this under "Nonvocal Sounds":
"Rare. Wing-clapping noise in flight (Harper 1938). Mengel et al. (1972:
443) reported that wing-clapping occurs while holding wings "sharply above
the body." Primaries or wrists making contact above the body could cause the
sound; often associated with calling males, territorial disputes, or
possibly courtship (Mengel et al. 1972)."
BNA Online also states:
"Growl and Cluck. Numerous call notes described with different phonetics.
Two common calls given by male and female are Growl and Cluck (Mengel and
Jenkinson 1971). Growl-and-Cluck sequence is when the 2 sounds occur
together (Cluck preceding Growl) and is common in social situations where >1
Chuck-will's-widow is present (Mengel and Jenkinson 1971). Growl is a
low-volume call."
Source: Straight, Carrie A. and Robert J. Cooper. 2000. Chuck-will's-widow
(Caprimulgus carolinensis), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole,
Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North
America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/499
...and a very brief flyby:
http://youtu.be/evpJqmRx8-c
Eric Howe
northern Walworth Co.
-----Portion of Original Message from Peter Fissel-----
From: wisbirdn-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wisbirdn-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Peter A. Fissel
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2011 10:24 AM
Subject: [wisb] Jackson County Nightjar "slam"
.......
"Around 8:35 p.m., we headed over to Bartos/Staffon Rd. just west of the
prison. At 8:50, the Chuck-will's-widow began calling from very near
the prison on the north side of the road. He called continuously for
two or three minutes. Just as I was telling Jim Schwarz that if the
bird stopped calling, we should stay alert and see if we could spot it
flying, the bird stopped calling. We waited for a minute or so, and it
started up again, very close to us on the south side of the road. I
can't figure out how we didn't see it relocate, since it was still
fairly light out. We walked down closer to where it was calling. It
kept it up for several more minutes, then stopped. We heard a very
distinct, loud series of sharp noises that I can only presume were
wing-claps (I think four times,) then a low series of almost "throbbing"
sounds that reminded me of nothing so much as when I've heard recordings
of blood flow or heartbeat from an ultrasound. (Birds of North America
Online describes the wingclap as "rare"; they also mention a "growling"
noise, that could describe what we were hearing, and which appears to
have a territorial function.) After the bird once more relocated to the
north side of the road, we heard the same wingclap/throbbing series
again, then it moved farther back in, closer to the prison and resumed
calling. We left around 9:20 with it still calling, and went west to
the intersection with Cemetery Rd., where a couple of Whip-poor-wills
were calling (another was very close to the road as we went south on
Cemetery towards Hwy 54.)"
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