What animal sounds like a crying baby?

[KarenC]

This is driving me crazy. The other night, I heard the most creepy sound coming from the woods behind my house. It sounded like a VERY BIG LOUD crying baby “waaaa, waaaa”. It was the first time I’ve heard this noise, and I’ve lived in this house for over a year. It even freaked my normally very brave dog out. I have since heard it twice - around 1:00 AM and also in the early morning when it was starting to get light out but the sun wasn’t yet all the way up. It sounds like it is coming from above, in the trees. I’ve lived in the country for years and NEVER heard anything like this - although this is the first placed I live that has a heavily wooded area so near the house.

I’ve been doing some research on the internet and possibilities are a fisher, a fox, or a screech owl…but none of the clips I’ve heard sound exactly like what I heard. It did seem to possibly be more than one, but I can’t be sure, I was too freaked out to check it out more closely. The first time I thought it might be an animal in distress, but since it has happened a couple of times since, I think it may be a mating thing or something like that.

What do you experts think? I live in SW Michigan, on a wooded 4 acres with all different kinds of trees, on a small, swampy lake. Very quiet dirt road. I have seen plenty of foxes around here, but I’m leaning towards the fisher. I would think if it was an owl or pair of owls I would have heard it before now and more regularly.

Links to any sound clips would be appreciated.

[Derby_Lyn_Farms]

Was it a loud screeching, almost like a woman screaming? Seeing as how you were freaked out, it may have been a bobcat. Freakiest noise I have ever heard.

[allanglos]

A Mongoose!

[jse]

Are there foxes in your area? They sound like a baby screaming and it’s kind of an eerie sound…

[Laurierace]

Another vote for fox. Could also be a rabbit in major distress but fox is more likely.

[sea-glass]

Sounds like a fisher to me! I live in Maine and they are common, and they absolutely sound like a crying baby. Very creepy.

Watch out if you have any cats, I lost two of mine in 10 years (outdoor cats that always came home) to what I think may have been a fishercat.

[kasjordan]

If you’re seeing foxes, I would be 99% sure that’s what you’re hearing. They have a TON of different noises and they’re all freaky! lol

Check out this sound page-
http://www.angelfire.com/ar2/thefoxden/redfox_distress.wav

[luvmytbs]

Vote for fox also.

[Guin]

Fox. Just wait til you hear their impression of someone being murdered.

[Appsolute]

Around here… there is an animal that is LOUD and sounds just like a crying baby or distressed person…

PEACOCKS!

No idea if you have any around you, but farms around here are known to have them, and quite a few get lose and become feral. Just this morning while on my commute I heard a screach of a peacock from up in a tree.

[Sport]

I agree with Appsolute.
Peacocks are loud and sound like a baby.

[SherwoodAcres]

My dog! Lol… I know not the answer you’re looking for but she does! She throws temper tantrums that sound very much like a baby. When I worked at a vet clinic I was able to bring her in, if she wasn’t getting what she wanted she would cry, I had many people on phone calls ask if there was a child with me lol!!!

For those interested, this is Tatum (my dog) halfway through a tantrum http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NncNpOteeak

[witherbee]

I was going to say Peacocks as well. We have a ton of them here and they sound like a baby crying.

[ChocoMare]

Other critters that sound like that: two siamese cats fighting and/or possums mating/fighting.

[cheval_convert]

A cat in heat can sound like a crying baby as well.

[alternate_universe]

I’ve heard some pretty freaky sounds that resemble a baby crying crossed with zebra sounds. lol It can get pretty loud and happens at about the same time you describe. However, we don’t have fox in my area, but we do have raccoons, which are what I’ve always attributed it to.

[Nootka]

[QUOTE=Appsolute;6385600]
Around here… there is an animal that is LOUD and sounds just like a crying baby or distressed person…

PEACOCKS!

No idea if you have any around you, but farms around here are known to have them, and quite a few get lose and become feral. Just this morning while on my commute I heard a screach of a peacock from up in a tree.[/QUOTE]

OMG YES… The ones I have heard drive me crazy!!

[RiverBendPol]

A rabbit being killed has a MOST blood-curdling SCREEEAM-sets my hair on end…it is horrific.

[Equibrit]

Check out the female screech owl; http://www.owlpages.com/sounds.php

[KarenC]

I can guarantee it is not a rabbit. I am, unfortunately, intimately familiar with the sounds of a rabbit being killed. No peacocks in this area.

If I hear it again, I’ll tape it and link to it. Still stuck between fox, fisher, and owl - but leaning towards the fisher or owl because it really seemed to be coming from the trees. Although the only critter I have seen with my own eyes around here are fox. How loud are owls? I mean, this was LOUD. Wake the dead loud. It also sounded, well, not to be melodramatic, but seriously, it sounded sinister. I don’t know how else to describe it. I’m usually big on investigating these kind of things and started to heading down with the flashlight and got all girly and ran back to the house. And I’m generally a pretty tough chick…