We have lived in our new home for two years. It was chosen on purpose for being “in the woods”. It is situated on a point between two lakes. It is in a mature oak forest and the amount of birdlife, amphibians and mammals is prodigious. It is a short drive from where I have been involved with my research for the last six years.

I have heard the “Ohio Moan Howl” and human-sounding calls from this location and recorded many distant howls and whistles.   There have been several times when we thought perhaps we were not alone but nothing definitive.

Yesterday afternoon my wife and I planted some hosta in our backyard overlooking the lake. Our property is on the lake, although the slope to the shore is much too steep for the casual walker.  While digging holes for the plants I stopped to knock off a few branches of a dying pine tree in our yard. Some of the branches I broke off with my hands, some of them I broke with a small shovel.

The pine tree I was knocking dead branches from.

I didn’t think anything about it until about 5 minutes later we heard what appeared to be a rock being thrown with force against a metal object. Others may think it is wood, I am not sure, but I do know it was purposeful.  The sound came from across the cove probably about 70 yards away. I was fortunate to have my Telinga parabolic pointed that direction and my recorder to be on at the time.

This is a picture through the trees in our backyard showing the area  across the cove where the rock throwing sound came from.

Click here to listen to sound clip:  Rock Throwing 1

Waveform View

Spectral View