Whatbird.com

Hello,

I live in Northern Indiana, about 20 minutes south of Lake Michigan.  I have been able to identify all the birds that frequent our property except for one.  There appears to be a couple that has made a nest high up in one our large maple trees, and we have only been able to catch a glimpse of these birds on a rare occasion.   My significant other has seen three at one time, high up in the tree and she says they looked 'owl' like to her.  While the two times I have caught glimpses, I would say they appeared more like a small heron or water type of bird, somewhat heavy and crouched in their perch on the branches.

In working out in the garden, I will more typically hear their call and have not been able to get a clear shot or view of them due to our lot being semi-wooded in nature.  They are about the size between that of a crow and closer to a raven and have only heard them make one call.  A call that I was able to record and have posted here to see if anyone might be able to identify this family for me.

I was able to capture two calls about one minute apart, and have edited the audio file to shorten the overall length (to about 10secs) and increase the volume of the calls themselves.Since it appears that I am unable to post the audio file here, I have posted a direct file link below.

Listen/download MP3 file here  http://www.hotsnapz.com/UnknownBirdCall.mp3

Thanks for your help,

Ray, La Porte, IN 

Kind of sounds like a green heron, which would fit your description as well.

In going through the identification lookups here online, I thought it also might be a green heron based on looks, however, in listening to various calls online, it doesn't seem to be a match with the single call that we're hearing.  They make this only one call, and at only an interval of between 1-2 minutes between calls.  I know nothing of green herons, but the online calls would lead me to believe them to be a bit more noisy, higher pitched and energetic?

The actual sound is also a bit more 'Bassy' in person than what was recorded on my camera's audio capture.  Almost sound a bit reptilian, if that makes any sense.

Blue Heron Calls:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Green_Heron/sounds

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/32/overview/Green_Heron.aspx

 

 

I don't know which sites you've listened to, but try this one:  http://sibley.enature.com and search for green heron.  See if any of those match.  The second one sounds like it.

Green heron was my first impression, and the sibley link certainly sounds right.  Here it is with a more direct link to the green heron.  You will notice in this one recording there are four different sounds.  As Matty said, the second is almost identical to yours.

http://sibley.enature.com/species.asp?SpeciesID=2405&Image_ID=2405_05.jpg&RecNum=1&Srch=yes&searchStr=green+heron&xLoc=&yLoc=

Scott

Great! I think you all are right and that it is a Green Heron. 

The first two calls, on the eNature site, do sound like the birds in question.

 Thanks for your help and the link to eNature.