The other evening as i was going out to put the chickens to bed, after 11pm i heard a bird call in the fields behind our house. The only thing i could say that it resembled was an arctic turn or thereabouts. As it clearly wasn't said bird i think it must have been a little owl but i have never heard one make such a sound. Does anybody have any thoughts on this?
Your guess of Little Owl might be on the mark, I have heard my local Little Owls making a Tern like Kakking noise, but more similar to the call of a Sandwich Tern than an Arctic Tern. I don’t know your local habitat but if it is suitable Water Rail is a good suspect – they have a repertoire of calls and do vocalise at night, have a listen on this link
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/w/waterrail/index.aspx
15th Feb 2013 I observed the first Moorhen for my home, based on night call (they nest about half a mile away) of wandering bird(s)in a grazed field next to my garden. Look at this site, and check out the links of Moorhen night-call recordings:
http://www.godsownclay.com/NaturalHistory/Birds/waterbirds.html
The second link especially, gives the three syllable call that I heard on several night time occasions, until 20Mar13 (not heard since).
Your message reminded me of my initial puzzlement and owl suspicions.
Will be interested to know if you think yours might be the same sort of sound. (Course, it would be great if yours is a Little Owl!!)
Thank you all for the excellent suggestions and i am pleased that some one has also heard a night call of a bird that sounds like a Tern. My habitat behind our garden is open pasture with mature hedging and around the hamlet are several cider orchards that are home to a couple of breeding pairs of little owls so i know they are about. You got me thinking though with Water rail. There are several ponds in the area and the river cam is half a mile away so it could easily be one of these. I really need to hear it again so it sits in the memory. I tried to access the websites mentioned but couldn't log on. Thanks again.
