What is making that NOISE?

[TheJenners]

Mkay so a few days ago, “something” was making creepy noise from the woods to the SE of my property. Suuuper creepy. My Aussie heard it and then did not care to go investigate, which I wouldn’t have allowed anyway (the old dog didnt hear it, he’s yanno… old-dog-dgaf-deaf).

These are videos clips spliced together, for some reason it was loudest on my porch camera but honestly it seemed pretty loud everywhere in person. I remote triggered a camera about 350’ south of my house and it just didn’t pick it up as well - probably the camera itself but I didn’t notice until later. But those are the clips I have. The noise went on for about half an hour before I left to go to dinner, so the whole time I was feeding and doing chores, no change, seemed to stay in the same place, same weird noise, same rhythmic constant noise. My friend a quarter mile down and across the road (due east from me) also heard it, and also heard something crashing thru the woods behind her house after the noise stopped. She got some cell video of the crashing, dark or her yard lights, really only taken for the audio, and it is SCARY big sounding but… Probably deer. We keep saying that anyway…

what the bleep is that?

I don’t think it’s coyotes, we hear them regularly and this isn’t what we normally hear, but it’s breeding season so maybe?? Vet friend didn’t think coyotes, thought maybe a bird of some sort? Maybe?

I mean I am going with Bigfoot at this point.

[js]

I had a hard time hearing the sound even with my computer turned all the way up but there was one tiny part that sounded like Bigfoot at least from what I’ve heard from watching Bigfoot shows on TV… It could be anything, I’m not great at animal sounds and don’t know what part of the country you live in so don’t know what is out there that could be making the noises. It scared your dogs and they wanted nothing to do with being outside so something they feel is a predator?

[Bluey]

Sorry, being hard of hearing, I can’t hear anything there.

Curious how come I can see your video here, but others won’t show up?
Must have something to do with the settings, just need to figure what.

If you hear strange noises again, could you slowly drive around and locate where it is coming from and maybe find the source?

We had once some odd noises at night, found later it was bobcats, as one came to raise her two youngsters right behind our barn and we heard similar noises from her in the night.
She sounded like a cross between a sore throated coyote and a big bird of some kind, not high pitch catlike at all.

[S1969]

Not coyote.

Maybe a fox?

Red Fox Sounds - Screams, Howls & Barking Calls

Fox Calls And Barks

They often call rhythmically but not always.

[TheJenners]

OMG YES!!! Thank you!! Sending to my friend too for her to also listen and see if she concurs!

[sascha]

Concur with fox ID. If it sounds like a child (or horse) being tortured, it’s likely a fox. Went through this one night a few months ago. A couple of boarders even drove out to the far reaches of the paddocks to check horses were not in trouble. All ok, all not bothering a whit at the sound. “It was a fox” “No.” “Yes, I swear it was a fox.” “Ok?” “Here, listen” … "It was a fox! "

[frugalannie]

Sounds like a fox to me, and my dogs concur. They went into alert and growling mode as soon as they heard the recording. But they do that for Bigfoot, too.

[Where_sMyWhite]

Another vote for fox. Where I used to live had a resident fox family. Creepy, at least to me, sounds that my dogs didn’t react to.

[TheDBYC]

Fox. Or possibly a Fisher Cat. Not sure if you have them in that part of the US, though.

[Scribbler]

We have lots of coyotes locally, no foxes. Coyotes yipping and howling from inside my townhouse complex grounds when a fire truck goes by on the main road.

But if you watch the more bucolic British murder mystery shows on PBS they love throwing in fox and owl calls on the soundtrack whenever they show a character loose in the woods and fields at night. They come up with some pretty spooky noises which are I assume amped up but generally authentic to the British countryside. They like to choose the ones that sound most like a baby being strangled.

[S1969]

@Scribbler

But if you watch the more bucolic British murder mystery shows on PBS they love throwing in fox and owl calls

Haha that’s why I thought it might be a fox. I don’t ever hear them near my house (although I know we have them). But it seems like in Great Britain they are everywhere and vocalizing constantly at night - or that’s how it seems if you watch British TV shows.

[anon81364900]

O. M. effing G I just googled bobcat calls out of curiosity, since neighbors have said they’ve seen them around. All I can say is that if I heard any of these calls in my timber at night I think I’d wet my pants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGBpiv-pOVo

Agree that the OP’s critter is almost certainly a fox. They are creepy sounding, aren’t they?

[Highflyer1]

I just played that and my cat went INSANE so it must have been saying something rude.

[TheJenners]

@TheDBYC

Fox. Or possibly a Fisher Cat. Not sure if you have them in that part of the US, though.

Well one friend is making fun at me saying it isn’t a fox because we don’t have them on the island, I guess too many coyotes? However I saw one 10 years ago and a different friend who is the one I go to for all things Whidbey Wildlife said she has seen them while hiking at a park on the island, plus the other neighbor said she and her doggo confirm - so first friend is outvoted! Definitely sounded creepy!

[TheDBYC]

They do sound very fox like. Listening to a recording I feel like I hear a feline color to the tone of their voice. But Lord knows I couldn’t tell if I hear one in the wild without seeing it!

@TheJenners , any chance you do have fisher there? They’re aggressive on par with honey badgers (they’re part of the mustelid family, too) & don’t have much in the way of natural predators except for humans. Their vocalizations sound almost indistinguishable from those of a fox.

[TheJenners]

Hmm I think that also sounds correct and they were reintroduced to Western WA so maybe??

[LilRanger]

The first noise just sounded like my husband yelling “rawh!”

[TheDBYC]

They could well be there, then. We don’t officially have them in Virginia according to the Department of Fish & Wildlife. The fisher apparently didn’t receive that memo. Lol. There’s the odd sighting of one every so often. I saw one once at our old farm in the Shenandoah Valley.

[cayuse]

I could barely hear it but from what I could make out it’s not coyote and to me it does not sound like the fox we have that roams near. Fisher cat maybe, they always scare the crap out of me with their wailing. Wish I could hear the video a bit better.

[frugalannie]

We definitely have fishers around us. I’ve seen them clearly in the daylight a couple of times. I just read an animal column in my local paper (Boston Globe) where they noted that everyone says the creepy cat-fighting, tortured baby noses at night are fishers. But apparently fishers have almost no vocalizations. The naturalist in the column stated what was being heard was either a fox or raccoons. So there ya’ go. Of course, things could be completely different on the West Coast!