Wood Pigeon calling at night.

[LynM]

A friend has just told me that she heard a Woodie calling in her back garden at 01.15 this morning! Is it unusual for this to happen? Apart from the obvious night birds, are there any others that one might hear calling in the early hours?

BTW, she lives in a rural area and hastens to add that she had not been on the red wine last night!

[aeshna5]

I must confess I've never heard this happening, but it's a pretty distinctive sound!

[valleyforge]

Could possibly have been tawny owls .... when a pair of tawny owls are in close proximity to each other, such as adjacent trees, they can sometimes be heard to vocalize in a soft warble, which might be mistaken for a wood pigeon.

Some tawny owls we have had in temporary care have also produced a low contented warbling, usually after a good meal and while engaged in preening.

The remarkable range of vocalizations that these owls produce has been well documented on this website:Tawny Owl calls page 2

This sound clip (MP3) is an example of a female tawny warbling and although not particularly wood pigeon like in this particular clip, you can probably hear undertones if you imagine it slowed down somewhat: http://www.godsownclay.com/TawnyOwls...e_(female).mp3

[LynM]

Thanks valleyforge. I shall let her know your ideas and give her the references too.

[aland]

Hello lynm, Your thread as given me food for thought, I too have lay in bed and heard what i thought was a pigeon in the early hours, Also my african grey as started mimicking a cross between a owl and a pigeon, This as had me wondering for a couple of months, She only does this in the morning, I actually thought she was shouting during the night having dreams or some thing like that, We have not had owls around for some years at least I thought not, I have listened to the sound recordings but i am not quite sure maybe i am too sleepy to take it in at two am, aland,

[Picidae]

I've often heard Wood Pigeon calling at night (we have them roosting on the house here). If they are disturbed by a fox stalking around on the ground especially!

[LynM]

Thanks aland and picidae. Some other people have suggested that perhaps the bird had been disturbed by a predator, so that's beginning to look like the most feasible explanation.