Unknown Recording, June 26, 1999, Carr Mountain, Arizona
Recording by Greg Clark, Filtering by Tim Price
3/16/2002 - Bob Barry (in Arizona) believes that this is a squirrel and we also have one eye witness of a squirrel up in a tree with this noise coming out. So now we are down to figuring out what KIND of squirrel it is.
8/5/2001 - There is some indication that this could be a Fox.
9/8/01 - We have had two opinions that this could be a squirrel. Larry Graber in Michigan reports that the "Black Squirrel, which is a variation of the Grey Squirrel" makes noises like this in the woods in the fall where he lives.
Of course there's no picture, we don't know what it is!
On June 26, 1999 Tim Price and I did a BBS survey (Breeding Bird Survey - United States Fish and Wildlife Service) that starts at Roosevelt Lake where route 288 begins, and ends 25 miles later in the pine trees. There are 50 stops where the survey is done, each stop about 1/2 mile apart. Tim has done this survey for many years and I have assisted for the last six or seven years. On some of the "stops" I make a sound recording to preserve the species found in a permanent record. Of the four BBS routes that we do each year, this route is the best for picking out "mystery" birds that Tim can review (and fret over) until they are resolved. This year we even re-recorded a mystery bird that Tim has puzzled over for two years. He is getting closer to a resolution on that one. However, this year we recorded an animal, that could be a bird, that has us stumped completely. The recording was made at an altitude around 5500 ft elevation in pine, oak, juniper habitat. Unfortunately, a car was coming by just as the recording was made, so a filtering job was performed by Tim to try and suppress the car without losing too much of the (bird?). When you listen to the recording you will hear one or two sharp introductory notes, followed by a growl similar to a hollywood pirate Arrrggghhh!! If you would like to receive the original so you can work with an unfiltered copy, let us know. We would be interested in comments about what you think it could be, and why.
Download .mp3 recording of the "pirate" (bird?)
Copyright Greg Clark, 1999
update 8/2012