at Easter lunch somehow this topic came up. I had no idea it was squirrels making that noise. I thought it was birds
Ground Squirrels, here in Southern California. Other burrowing mammals in the mountains also make similar chirping sounds. Peregrine Falcons can make sounds somewhere between screeching sea birds and ground squirrels.
Hummingbirds make noises I would never have expected were coming from them. Roadrunners make sounds I could have sworn were coming from insects.
The hummingbird sound I think of as a crackle, or square wave distortion, or maybe the sound of an electric fence. It is very unexpected until you know what it is.
Interesting. One tore past my head the other day and made a really loud screeee sound, for lack of a better description. I’ll have to learn more about these. I think I’ve heard the sound you’re describing as well. The other thing I’m surprised to see them do is just land somewhere and not move for a while.
Where I’m at, the Allen’s hummingbird is not uncommon. They make a crazy loud buzzing noise in flight, but it’s just their wings! It can be heard in most of the clips here.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Allens_Hummingbird/sounds
east to the western end of Riverside County.
Bingo! That 2nd one down almost captures the Doppler effect dramatizing what it sounds like when they fly by.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Allens_Hummingbird/maps-range
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen's_hummingbird#Distribution
Not the same species as yours, but two years ago I realised that “that weird, unidentified little sound that I hear in the forest from time to time” was in fact made not by birds but by [Eurasian red] squirrels nibbling their food. The cute little rascals make so much noise with their cute little teeth that I can hear them from under the trees.
European squirrels chirp too.
They do this to attract birds to eat
No, they do not?
I usually hear them before I can see them, when walking with my dog. They can be really loud (mostly red ones around here). My dog usually doesn’t even notice.
I risk a broken arm if my dog sees a squirrel. She’s never even close to catching one, but it sure doesn’t stop her from trying.
Oh damn, eat some calcium, bro.
They make this sound when my cat looks out the window.
Birds tended to be more uhhh warbly whenever I’ve heard them, and squirrels are little right bastards, they love dropping acorns on the ceiling.
Ours sounds like laser beams. “CHEW!”
I thought the reverse at some point until I realized that a couple of woodpeckers were making sounds similar to squirrels. I was laying in my tent one morning and heard those calls and thought some squirrels were “fighting”, but then they started pecking at a tree so I realized what they were.
Also, the first time I went in the Caribbean I thought birds were making such a ruckus in the evening but it was actually a small frog called Eleutherodactylus martinicensis.
Mi amas sciuroj <3
