Subject: Mystery bird heard ~ June 1, 1999
Date: Jun 4 21:47:18 1999
From: David Chelimer - chelimer at earthlink.net


Tweeters, all: Leaving my house in central Seattle the other day I heard
from the large birch next door a bird sound unlike anything I've heard
before. I can best describe it as a repeated call of "Ronald" or "Donald"
although the consonants were muffled. The call wasn't especially loud, but
obviously of a bird of considerable size. The intensity was similar to a
female human trying to get the attention of someone across an averaged sized
room. The call was repeated perhaps three or four times at intervals of a
second or two.
Arriving under the birch, I waited for several minutes, looking for whatever
might have made the noises. The only bird visible, and in plain view, was a
crow, some thirty feet up, undisturbed by my presence (or by anything else),
and perfectly silent. I couldn't believe then and have trouble now
imagining a crow making the totally non-raucous sounds I had heard. It's
possible there had been another bird in the birch, but I saw none fly from
it.
I'd be very grateful for any ideas. Thanks, David Chelimer