Last year I posted about a strange bird I could hear cackling through the warm summer nights when the windows are open, and now he’s back! (I mean I can hear him through the open windows, not that he only does it when the windows are open!)
I am not totally convinced it is a nightjar, but I can’t think of what else it can be. He sounds a little like a seagull, or like a jackdaw, but it’s a short chuckling noise rather than a squawk or a shriek. I’ve checked out the calls and songs of other night singers such as robins, thrushes, blackbirds and nightingales, and it is definitely none of them; neither is it an owl – and I’ve been listening to all sorts of recordings f different owls. The recordings I’ve heard of nightjars have a long burst of song, a sort of ddddrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, whereas what I hear is a d-d-drrruk, dddrrrp, at a few second intervals before it flies somewhere else. It often returns, so it is obviously flying around at night rather than being a seagull or jackdaw roosting nearby.
It isn’t an owl, I know, but enjoy this little video:
Lois Elsden 