Weird sounds on the trail

[Mikerfixit]

After reading another post about weird sounds I've decided to post my own.

I haven't been able to find a recording that sounds anything like what I heard but it was best described as a loud husky "I'm getting ready to puke" type of sound with a trill at the end.

It took place in southern PA in early October just before sunset. It was loud enough to fill the shelter area and neither I nor my friend who grew up in a rural area hunting could figure out what it may have been. We made a guess that it was some type of bird.

It seemed to come from up in the trees as best we could tell but it only sounded once so we couldn't really pin point it.

[illabelle]

No idea what creature made the sound you describe. Just wanted to make the point that we often limit the vocalizations of a particular species to just the most common or primary sounds associated with that animal. But why wouldn't an animal be capable of a wide range of sounds beyond the common or primary? What does a coyote/duck/skunk/owl sound like when they feel "ready to puke"? How does their voice change when they're scared? Or hurt/horny/hungry? Or when they're coddling their young? Maybe you just happened to hear an animal puke, who knows?

[Alligator]

No idea but a wild guess maybe an owl puking up a pellet.

[JNI64]

No idea what creature made the sound you describe. Just wanted to make the point that we often limit the vocalizations of a particular species to just the most common or primary sounds associated with that animal. But why wouldn't an animal be capable of a wide range of sounds beyond the common or primary? What does a coyote/duck/skunk/owl sound like when they feel "ready to puke"? How does their voice change when they're scared? Or hurt/horny/hungry? Or when they're coddling their young? Maybe you just happened to hear an animal puke, who knows?

LMAO, damn hair balls! Been there myself a few times!

[GoldenBear]

Was getting to sleep along The Trail in North Carolina when I heard this sound for a couple minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SwMJ50Dbz4
Had never heard it before, and had no idea what it was. I could tell it was SOME kind of a bird, but didn't know which one. After searching for
north carolina bird sounds
I found what it was.

[Dan Roper]

GoldenBear's link is to a barred owl giving it's "who cooks for you?" call. Very common.

Sometimes the barred owl breaks into a crazy call, something like monkey's laughing or somebody coughing up a hairball while drunk. Here's a YouTube link: (1) These Caterwauling Barred Owls Sound Like Monkeys - Calling All Turkeys - YouTube

[Odd Man Out]

I think I heard a Barred Owl in SNP. Woke me up in the middle of the night. Very loud. Sounded like someone being murdered.

[gpburdelljr]

All those odd sounds are made by Bigfoot.

[Sarcasm the elf]

All those odd sounds are made by Bigfoot.

False. Sometimes the noises are from wendigos.

[Coffee]

There are so many weird sounds especially at night. I did a trip last week for the first time in way too long and heard all kinds of things. Couldn't get to sleep for a couple of hours. When I used to go on trips regularly, all of that sort of thing just faded into the background. The other thing I noticed last week when I got up in the middle of the night was something weird looking in the sky that turned out to be stars.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Not weird or uncommon, but gotta put in a vote for the screech owl. The 6" tall bird that will send grown men running for cover in the middle of the night.

[CrumbSnatcher]

starving thruhiker eating to fast maybe

[Mikerfixit]

I'm ok with calling it an owl. My friend and I thought it might have been some type of bird. The video links so far don't sound anything like what we heard though.

Or it could be that thruhiker. Maybe a thruhiker named Barfing Owl.

[NY HIKER 50]

In all honesty, it may be a crow or similar. They are great imitators. I did have a cat that seemed to vocalize oh no not again before he threw up. This is all real. Or it just may have sounded that way to a human.

[Night Train]

I don't think Johnny Cash would qualify as weird but I could hear Folsom Prison Blues clear as a bell one night on Roan Mtn. I thought maybe it was coming from Carvers Gap or the Cloudland parking lot but there was no echo or any sound distortion you would anticipate hearing from a distant stereo.

[Chaz]

A bobcat screech in the middle of the night is absolutely hair-raising...

[GoldenBear]

I remember, many years ago, a person on Whiteblaze posting about hearing this sound on the trail, in the middle of a pitch dark night.
https://sounds-mp3.com/mp3/0000961.mp3
He admitted to being terrified as this sound kept getting closer & closer to the shelter he was TRYING to sleep in.
BTW, this is the sound of a porcupine.

[LazyLightning]

The sound that got me that eventually somebody pointed out as a likely bird call of some sort, was not scary at all and not most likely at night. I only heard it on the AT mostly down south until recently I now heard it 2 times in CT for sure in the last 6 months. It's a very distant sound and sounds like somebody drops a ball with repeated bounces that get softer each time until it fades, only a few seconds long. At first it sounded like a hammer way in the distance but definitely not, it was way to consistent each time. That had me puzzled for the longest time because it just doesn't sound like anything an animal would make.

[Slugg]

The sound that got me that eventually somebody pointed out as a likely bird call of some sort, was not scary at all and not most likely at night. I only heard it on the AT mostly down south until recently I now heard it 2 times in CT for sure in the last 6 months. It's a very distant sound and sounds like somebody drops a ball with repeated bounces that get softer each time until it fades, only a few seconds long. At first it sounded like a hammer way in the distance but definitely not, it was way to consistent each time. That had me puzzled for the longest time because it just doesn't sound like anything an animal would make.

That sounds like maybe a male grouse drumming? I hear this especially often in the spring in the south.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcA3tyE1fYs

[gpburdelljr]

The sound that got me that eventually somebody pointed out as a likely bird call of some sort, was not scary at all and not most likely at night. I only heard it on the AT mostly down south until recently I now heard it 2 times in CT for sure in the last 6 months. It's a very distant sound and sounds like somebody drops a ball with repeated bounces that get softer each time until it fades, only a few seconds long. At first it sounded like a hammer way in the distance but definitely not, it was way to consistent each time. That had me puzzled for the longest time because it just doesn't sound like anything an animal would make.

Maybe a Ruffed Grouse drumming.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/..._Grouse/sounds