Subject: birds that sound like a rattlesnake (?)- maybe crows
Date: Feb 8 17:48:11 2004
From: Stewart Wechsler - ecostewart at quidnunc.net


J.V. and tweeters

Crows rattle their beaks (rapidly tap together) a bit like a rattlesnake. I
know this means something in "crowish" but I forget what. Jays might do
something similar.

Anyone else have any ideas?

J.V., did that rattlesnake bite you when you were a kid?

Stewart Wechsler
West Seattle
mailto:ecostewart at quidnunc.net

-----Original Message-----
From: TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu
[mailto:TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu]On Behalf Of jvbonham at msn.com
Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2004 5:03 PM
To: tweeters
Subject: birds that sound like a rattlesnake (?)


I guess I should apologize for taking up so much space here, but it seems
like I want to know all the answers to too many questions too rapidly.

About two weeks ago I awoke from a fairly bad dream and thought I was
hearing a rattlesnake.

As I had a terrible experience when I was young with a rattlesnake, I
discounted this. I have, however, heard this same sound many times since.
It always seems to be coming from the ground, also.

Does anyone know of any kind of bird that has a call similar to the
rattles on a rattlesnake? It seems to be higher pitched than what I
remember the rattlesnake to sound like, but then, it wasn't around very
long, thanks to my father's great aim with a rock. This is beginning to
make me very frightened to even go out to my feeders. An over reaction, I'm
sure, but I would like to know about this sound!

Today I heard it just as a Scrub Jay landed and caused most of the rest of
the birds to leave rapidly, so I assume it is the sound of alarm by some
bird.

Thanks for any help.

J.V. Bonham
Centralia, WA
jvbonham at msn.com
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