Audio Recording

There are seven species of wild felines in North America. They are the Ocelot, the Margay, the Canada Lynx, the Bobcat, the Jaguar, the Cougar and the Jaguarundi.  The two species most often encountered are the Bobcat and Cougar. For this discussion I will focus on the Bobcat.

Bobcat (Lynx rufus) are very widely distributed throughout most of the U.S, Mexico and Southern Canada. I have seen Bobcat in several states, heard them and photographed them in Illinois. I have yet to get a good recording. Witnesses many times report hearing screams that they reason are either bobcats or cougar.

The following pictures were taken in Central Illinois, in the Spring of 2005.  I was walking with my dog, who at the time was 5 months of age. As we came through a grassy knoll she froze and pointed towards a field of corn stubble. I happened to be caring my Canon DSLR with 100-400 zoom. I did not have time to extend the lens but instead pointed in the general direction and starting snapping pictures. I happened to be about 200 yards away from the animal and by its movement I did not think it was a coyote. Only after returning home and enlarging the pictures on my computer did I finally realize it was a Bobcat. The cats coloring pattern almost perfectly camouflaged it in the corn stubble.

Original.

And then with yellow highlighting to show the position of the cat.

I am doing recordings in several areas with consistent bobcat sightings so I hope to have sound files of these tough cats posted soon.

Copyright 2004-2010 by Stan Courtney. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

There are five species of fox in North America. They are the Red Fox, the Gray Fox, the Kit Fox, the Swift Fox and the Island Fox. The two species most often seen and heard are the Red and Gray Fox.

One afternoon I watched a Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) in an alfalfa field in front of my home give an extremely loud and scary vocalization. If I had not seen the sound-maker I would have never guessed that it was an animal as small as a fox.

Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Other than coyotes, foxes are the  animal that is the most mis-identified with bigfoot / sasquatch sounds. I have spoken with several excited witnesses who just knew what they recorded was a sasquatch but upon listening to their recordings it became evident that it was a fox.

For  previous posts about foxes please see:

Distant Screams in the Night

Not So Distant Screams in the Night – Update

The following recordings demonstrate a few of the many sounds the Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) uses.

File # 07 – 2009.05.01 – Red Fox # 2
File # 06 – 2009.05.01 – Red Fox # 1
File # 05 – 2009.04.08 – Red Fox # 1
File # 04 – 2009.04.01 – Red Fox # 1
File # 03 – 2007.08.11 – Red Fox # 1
File # 02 – 2007.04.07 – Red Fox # 1
File # 01 – 2007.01.04 – Red Fox # 1

Copyright 2004-2010 by Stan Courtney. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

Coyotes (Canis latrans) have a very wide-spread distribution throughout most of North and Central America. Being such a wide spread species most people have heard coyote howls at sometime during their lifetime. Many researchers believe that sasquatch will join in with coyotes when they are vocalizing. So it is important to become acquainted with typical coyote howls.

For a previous post about coyotes please see: Singing Coyote

What I am presenting here is what I think are representative sounds of coyotes, both as single calls and as group choruses. Later on I will post non-typical howls.

Typical single howls can be heard in the following sound clips:

File # 16 – 2010.03.16 – Howl # 8
File # 15 – 2010.03.16 – Howl # 6
File # 14 – 2010.03.16 – Howl # 5
File # 13 – 2010.03.02 – Howl # 17
File # 12 – 2010.03.02 – Howl # 15
File # 11 – 2010.03.02 – Howl # 14
File # 10 – 2010.03.02 – Howl # 13
File # 09 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 14
File # 08 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 13
File # 07 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 12
File # 06 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 9
File # 05 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 8
File # 04 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 7
File # 03 – 2008.08.30 – Howl # 2
File # 02 – 2008.08.30 – Howl # 1
File # 01 – 2007.01.04 – Howl # 5

The following sequences are choruses of coyotes.

File # 36 – 2010.03.28 – Howl # 1
File # 35 – 2010.03.16 – Howl # 17
File # 34 – 2010.03.02 – Howl # 16
File # 33 – 2010.03.02 – Howl # 3
File # 32 – 2010.03.02 – Howl # 2
File # 31 – 2010.03.02 – Howl # 1
File # 30 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 19
File # 29 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 17
File # 28 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 16
File # 27 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 10
File # 26 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 3
File # 25 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 2
File # 24 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 1
File # 23 – 2009.07.26 – Howl # 2
File # 22 – 2009.07.26 – Howl # 1
File # 18 – 2007.11.02 – Howl # 1
File # 17 – 2007.05.10 – Howl # 1
File # 16 – 2007.05.02 – Howl # 1
File # 15 – 2007.04.30 – Howl # 1
File # 14 – 2007.04.23 – Howl # 2
File # 13 – 2007.04.22 – Howl # 4
File # 12 – 2007.04.22 – Howl # 3
File # 11 – 2007.04.22 – Howl # 2
File # 10 – 2007.04.19 – Howl # 1
File # 09 – 2007.04.07 – Howl # 1
File # 08 – 2007.03.30 – Howl # 2
File # 07 – 2007.03.30 – Howl # 1
File # 06 – 2007.03.16 – Howl # 2
File # 05 – 2007.03.16 – Howl # 1
File # 04 – 2007.03.13 – Howl # 1
File # 03 – 2007.01.05 – Howl # 4
File # 02 – 2007.01.04 – Howl # 6
File # 01 – 2007.01.04 – Howl # 4

The following sequences have my dog, Belle (a Karelian Bear Dog) joining in.

File # 07 – 2010.03.16 – Howl  # 11
File # 06 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 22
File # 05 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 18
File # 04 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 11
File # 03 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 5
File # 02 – 2010.02.01 – Howl # 4
File # 01 – 2006.04.04 – Howl # 2

Copyright 2004-2010 by Stan Courtney. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

Since moving into our new home in April of 2009 I have heard and recorded several unusual vocalizations. To the south of me about one half mile using a remote recorder I recorded what sounds like a growl followed by the dogs barking.

And one half mile to the north of our home I have a neighbor who also has a home in the woods.  He has commented that some animal is coming in close to his pond, makes strange noises and his dog starts barking. I have also noticed lately while standing out in my yard that my neighbors cattle get upset as well as his dogs. This is not every night but about once a week. I have heard unusual sounds coming from both areas.

In an attempt to get closer to these sounds I dropped off a remote recorder in the woods one mile south of our home. I did speak with one of the neighbors but he was unaware of any unusual sounds.

The following clip was recorded the 31st of Mar 2010. The dogs and the sound source were quite a distance from the microphone. But at least I did record what I believe to be an animal that is growling and in response the dogs start barking. Although this is not definitive as to the source it still shows what I believe to be a common scenario, i.e. that an animal for reasons unknown coming in close to farms and homes and appears to be irritating the farmers dogs by making noises.

The growl is heard at the 2 sec mark with the subsequent dogs barking at the 7 sec mark.

 Click here to listen to sound clip:  Growl 1 

Waveform View

Spectral View

I do not know what the source for the “growl” is but my suspicion is that I recorded the unknown intruder that has been upsetting the neighbor’s dogs.

For other discussion of sound files recorded this year close to my home in Central Illinois please see:

The Illinois Screamer

The Mumbler

The  Snorter

The Whisperer

Meriam Websters Online defines anomaly as being:

3 : something anomalous : something different, abnormal, peculiar, or not easily classified.

There have been several recordings made by different recordists in scattered parts of the county that at first sound like coyotes. But when studying them with sound analysis software differ from coyotes. And several of these recordings also sound quite odd. Not being a professional musician it is hard for me to describe this phenomena, but each howl appears to have a “hitch” in it. There is an abrupt change in the pitch that I have never seen described in coyotes or wolf howls.

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The Illinois Howl – 2006

This unusual phrasing (hitch) or anomaly was first noticed in April of 2006 when I recorded the Illinois Howl.  DB Donlon did a sound analysis on the sound file and noticed the anomaly. From his studies, DB Donlon did not believe the sound to be that of a coyote.

For a complete discussion of the Illinois Howl please go here: Illinois Howl

Our goal at that time was to find a similar recording from a different state and recorded by someone other than myself.

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The Texas Howl – 2008

In May of 2008 I was sent a sound clip recorded in Texas. Although not exactly similar to the Illinois Howl, nevertheless it did have an unusual tone change or hitch.

It can be listened to here: The Texas Howl

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Colorado Howl – 2009

Then in July of 2009 I was approached by Sybilla Irwin who was excited about a new recording she had from Colorado. When I listened to it I was amazed by this unusual, non-typical howl. And also again, like the Illinois Howl and the Texas recording there was that unusual tone change. I made two trips to Colorado and with five other researchers camped out and we all  got to listen to this very strange howl both during the night and daytime hours. So in addition to Sybilla Irwin, Todd Perteet and myself made some very good recordings of the Colorado Howl.

For a complete discussion of the Colorado Howl please go here:

Colorado Howl – Pt. 1

Colorado Howl – Pt. 2

Colorado Howl – Pt. 3

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Lake Howl, Illinois – 2010

Then on the 1st of March 2010 here in Central Illinois I recorded another unusual howl near my new home.  This is approximately sixty miles from my previous residence where I recorded the Illinois Howl.  The sound has a strange up and down wavering quality to it. As you listen to the sound file notice that at the 24 sec. mark there is what appears to be some type of mumbling or grumbling quickly followed by a coyote chorus and my dog, Belle, barking. I was told by four different researchers that I really needed to pay attention to that grumbling and that it was not typical of coyotes and perhaps was some other animal.

The Lake Howl can be listened to here: Lake Howl

Conclusion:

If anyone knows of any other recordings that demonstrate this strange “hitch” anomaly please contact either DB Donlon or myself.

Because this recording is of such poor quality I debated a long time whether to share this sound file or not. It was recorded from the patio of my home here in Central Illinois on the 13th of March, 2010.  The sound was buried in the white noise of the recording.  I am guessing the sound source was at a distance of a mile to a mile and a half from the recorder.

I can only guess as to the direction as my recorder records continuously and is unattended. I also placed a remote recorder deep in the woods on the 17th of March, 2010. I have heard screams and howls coming from this direction before.

More Screams In The Night

I am making no claims as to the source of this sound, whether something canine, coyote, fox or whatever.

The food drop (image taken during the summer).

In March of 2007 I placed my recorder near my food drop. My hope was that some animal would vocalize as it approached and took food which I periodically left out. This is an area that sees almost no human intruders other than an occasional deer hunter. Being late winter there were no leaves on the trees and brush in the area. I tried to hide my recorder but it was impossible to hide it completely.

The following recording was at 03:35 a.m.

Click here to listen to sound clip:  Chatter 2

Waveform View

Spectral View

The following sound files were posted and discussed in Walk In The Woods but in order to keep things simple I decided to repost them here without the extra text and sound files.

The evening of the 4th of May, 2009 we heard and recorded a very strange hissing type of sound coming from the ridge just above our location. Difficult to describe, it’s position changed several times. The location was in my “Main Research Box” in Central Illinois.

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Click here to listen to sound clip: Hissing 1

About 30 seconds later it moved further up the ridge.

Waveform View

Spectral View

This picture is from Adobe Audition showing the length of time that the sound lasted, about 10 seconds which is quite a while for an animal to be exhaling.

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Click here to listen to sound clip: Hissing 2

We walked an hour back to the Jeep. We returned along the road to this last position and did a series of three soundblasts. It was 1 1/2 hrs. between the time that we heard the 2nd Strange Sound, hiked back the mile through the woods and drove the 4 1/2 miles back to begin the soundblasting . After soundblasting we again heard and recorded this strange hissing sound. This time the sound maker had moved further south, across the road into some trees on the other side.

Waveform View

Spectral View

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Click here to listen to sound clip:  Hissing 3

I returned two days later and did an all night recording session.  I left my recording gear in the woods and retrieved it the next morning. Although the sound recording was from  a much greater distance it still seems to resemble the hissing sound.

Waveform View

Spectral View

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Click here to listen to sound clip: Hissing 4

Waveform View

Spectral View

The picture above is from our patio / deck of our new home. It is situated between two lakes and is an area of Central Illinois where I have concentrated my research for the last 4 years.

At my new home “House between the Two Lakes” I am running my audio recorder 24/7.

On the evening of the 8th of April 2009 at 2 a.m. I recorded 5 minutes of a series of screams. After each scream the dogs in the area would add their barks. I have shortened the recording to make it only a minute long. I have eliminated most of the dog barks but the original recording has not been filtered or altered.

I am sorry that the sound file is of poor quality but the screams were coming from about a mile away so did not record well. I am not sure what animal was doing the screaming, there are coyote, fox, bobcat and cougar in the area. There was a daytime sighting of a sasquatch within about one mile and I have heard the Ohio Moan Howl (not recorded) here 3 weeks ago.

Click here – Distant Screams