It is the black-headed grosbeak, thank you. That makes sense, as it starts up around the time they arrive. Cornell has it here, under the first listing of 'calls' with the same regularity.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-headed_Grosbeak/sounds
Thank you everyone for all the suggestions. I would love it to be nighthawks, as they would be a wonderful returning rarity around here (I know they've started to recover a little in the Seattle area after an absence), but that peent call is too drawn out. I knew tweeters wouldn't let me down!
Louise Rutter
Kirkland
From: Steve Hampton <
stevechampton at gmail.com>
Sent: 04 June 2022 07:39
To:
louise.rutter at eelpi.gotdns.org
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Smoke Alarm Bird ID
A Black-headed Grosbeak "pik" note sounds like this, but is generally not regular and repeated much.
If it's very regular and repeated, then it's a squirrel of some type
On Sat, Jun 4, 2022 at 7:36 AM Louise Rutter <
louise.rutter at eelpi.gotdns.org <mailto:
louise.rutter at eelpi.gotdns.org> > wrote:
Each summer there's a bird (I'm assuming it's a bird) that starts calling around our house between mid May to early June. It's likely one of the summer visitors, as all our resident breeders start long before. It makes a single, high, metallic 'plik' note every 4 to 5 seconds, and it sounds like nothing so much as a smoke detector with a low battery warning. The sound appears to come from high in the trees, although it's very hard to localise. We live on the Juanita hill in Kirkland, in mixed deciduous and coniferous woodland between St Edwards State Park and Big Finn Hill park.
Does anyone have any suggestions what it might be? If I can narrow it down a bit, I can check with the Cornell audio library.
Louise Rutter
Kirkland
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Steve Hampton
Port Townsend, WA (qatáy)