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ralli
Contributor
25 Posts |
 Posted - 07/27/2010 : 08:39:42 AM
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My family and I are heading to Rangeley this weekend. Looks like the weather will be perfect for a family camping trip (at least for my family  ).
Seems like it will be a bit cooler as well, maybe that will help out the finish a little.
Good luck this weekend to everyone, hope folks have a great weekend. |
- Antonio |
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blackghost
Frequent Contributor
USA
275 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2010 : 5:57:58 PM
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Good luck Antonio and enjoy your time with the family. |
Stephen Marsters
S-5 Keep em' alive....unless you plan to eat em'. Amen |
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rmadigan
Frequent Contributor
USA
165 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2010 : 1:04:35 PM
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Good luck Antonio.
Maybe we can hook up after you get back. I'm ready for some pond fishing. |
"Fishin' is the mission" |
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ralli
Contributor
25 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2010 : 1:32:32 PM
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Sounds good!
I'm getting pretty excited. Picked a few places to explore. |
- Antonio |
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ralli
Contributor
25 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2010 : 08:32:02 AM
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What a great weekend we had. Caught everything from small beautiful wild brookies to a large salmon and jumped out of my hand (I call it jumped, but it was more likely a wiggle)and took my fly with it.
We saw a moose, a pair for mink, and a bird that I have no idea what it is, but I know I don't like it as its loud and obnoxious in the middle of the night. |
- Antonio |
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Rory
Frequent Contributor
USA
672 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2010 : 8:05:50 PM
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| How would you describe the sound of this bird? The reason I ask is that we get a critter on summer evenings that makes a terrible hissing sound, and I haven't been able to figure out what it is. Coincidentally, last night was the first time we've heard it this year. A couple of years ago, it showed up right after there were reports of a mountain lion in the area, so that was our first thought, but other guesses have been a fisher or raccoon, and maybe even a bird, as it seems to leave without a trace when I go out and try to spot it. I've checked sound clips out of all the above-mentioned critters as well as screech owls, and I haven't hit a real match yet. This thing would be very unnerving if I were in a tent in the darkness. |
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ralli
Contributor
25 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2010 : 9:55:08 PM
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This is very interesting. I have been trying to figure out how to describe it for a couple of days. The best I can come up with is its almost like a backwards hiss. Throaty and squeeky and squaky all at the same time. Another comparison I'm thinking of might be one of those pumps for blowing up an air mattress. When its extra squaky, when you take you foot off for it to fill back up with air, that noise was a little like it.
I'm not sure what time it was, but it was very dark (probably like 1 or 2am). You could hear a pair of them calling to eat other getting closer. By the time they were in our campsite I was wide awake with my head up.
I figured they were a bird as I never heard anything walk. I never heard any movement other than the sound. The sound would call from the same spot a couple of times and it would move.
There was a point that the thing was right in front of the door of the tent.. I slowly got up and my wife moved and the bird instantly was about 20 ft behind the tent.
Sorry for the novel but I'm bound and determined to figure this out haha. I generally feel fairly comfortable with my knowledge of the outdoors and animals of Maine, which not knowing what it is may be why I'm so baffled.
Maybe someone else has heard this as well?? |
- Antonio |
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Mike Holt
Member
USA
2822 Posts |
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ralli
Contributor
25 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2010 : 08:46:31 AM
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Yessss that is EXACTLY it. Very cool. Glad I posted it. We'll have to see if that is the same thing Rory heard.
Thank you for solving the mystery! I feel much better. We had heard their typical call earlier in the night further off.
I was looking up all the owl calls I could find, but apparently that one was not out there for me to listen to for what I could find.
Mike, you are a genius!
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- Antonio |
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Mike Holt
Member
USA
2822 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2010 : 09:44:59 AM
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One night at camp I awoke to that sound - two of them right outside our bedroom – seeming to be calling back and forth. I got up and went outside with a spotlight and found one juvenile in a Beech tree that sits off the back left corner of our camp. Then another call came from my right. Sure enough, there is another large Beech tree off that corner of the camp and in that tree I spotted another juvenile Barred Owl.
Apparently, both would rather sit and wait for Momma to bring them a meal rather than perfect their own hunting skills. They got quite loud and hung around the area for quite awhile. That scenario was played out for several nights in a row. I guess after three or four nights they figured out how to get their own meal as the “begging” call just stopped.
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Rory
Frequent Contributor
USA
672 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2010 : 5:58:22 PM
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| On the sound clip, the pitch raises towards the end of each shriek. I don't recall that in the critter outside our window. Maybe it's just a function of the circumstances, but I'd swear that "our critter" just plain sounds more aggressive as well. Then again, perhaps we're just hearing "The Hissing of Summer Lawns". |
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Mike Gundel
Contributor
USA
40 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2010 : 3:12:20 PM
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| Interesting all the years I have spent in the woods I do not recall having ever heard that sound. Tonight a buddy dropped me off to get my car at a local hiking trail. We had just returned from fishing the Bingham stretch. As I got out of the car we heard that sound. There were two of them going back and forth. That is exactly the sound. Good job Mike! eeeerie!!! |
Mike Gundel |
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Flyfishi
Frequent Contributor
USA
238 Posts |
Posted - 08/06/2010 : 11:10:53 AM
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| Fox pups can also sound really weird. Foxes used to den every year back at my old place in East Machias. Every year momma would leave them to hunt and they would end up on my lawn calling to her. I mean like 8 feet from my window which was open. Never bothered me as I thought it was price of living with wild animals. |
Catch and release, catch and release, catch and release.....get it? |
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Rory
Frequent Contributor
USA
672 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2010 : 9:42:11 PM
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| Well, a few nights ago we heard the screeching right after some hooting, so I guess it probably is an owl. I found a clip of the hoot that matches what we heard so it looks like barred owl is the correct answer. |
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Heading to Rangeley this weekend
