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1. octopuswaldo
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   does anyone know what nocturnal animal makes a very eerie screeching noise? i hear them quite often behind our house here in West Seattle.... could that animal attack our dog?

   Posted 2 years ago #         

2. shihtzu
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   Fighting cats?? They can sound pretty nasty.

   Posted 2 years ago #         

3. octopuswaldo
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   they sounded worse than cats, almost like from the alien movie...

   Posted 2 years ago #         

4. WSB
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   could be anything. raccoons, for example. are you near a greenbelt?

   Posted 2 years ago #         

5. bluebird
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   Fighting cats sound more like a crying baby. Probably raccoons. They can be extremely loud. It is rare for them to hurt cats and dogs, but has been known to happen on occasion.

   Posted 2 years ago #         

6. MargL
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   Squirrels make an eerie screechy bark on occasion. Dunno if what you're hearing sounds like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFN_Yfx6fUM but we get a few that just sit in the tree and make a long drawn out squaaaaaawk sound like they're in pain or pissed at something.
   Mad raccoons for comparison http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqKaZNwP76U

   Posted 2 years ago #         

7. jwws
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   We hear this sound too. My guess has always been raccoons or night -fighting ninja squirrels. The dogs always are on alert when we hear this sound but just in case it is the raccoons we don't let them out in the yard.

   Posted 2 years ago #         

8. datamuse
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   I agree with the raccoon assessment. One night last year I heard this incredibly disturbing screeching noise outside the house. My husband was outside smoking and when he came in I asked if he knew what had made the noise.

   He said he saw two raccoons come rolling out of the undergrowth near our driveway, doing their best to kill each other. Best part was when they saw him, they were so surprised that they stopped fighting and ran away.

   Posted 2 years ago #         

9. karen
   Member Profile

   I once stayed at my grandparents' house in the country and was awoken by horrible screaming. I was sure that there was a woman in the woods screaming. Turns out that peacocks sound just like a woman screaming.

   Probably they aren't in West Seattle though!

   Posted 2 years ago #         

10. datamuse
    Member Profile

    

    Actually, Karen, at some point I had a neighbor who had peacocks--I know because there was a peahen that would get loose on occasion and I'd see it wandering around the neighborhood.

    I haven't heard or seen them in a long time, though, so I don't know if they're still around.

    Posted 2 years ago #         

11. TammiWS
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    Raccoons are eerie sounding-screeching and sort of a gurgling/cooing sound - but high pitched. I hear them out in the yard a couple times a week at least.

    Posted 2 years ago #         

12. WSB
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    Night-fighting ninja squirrels! Nice phrase, jwws. Makes me want to set up an infrared camera in the backyard, where we see day-commuting non-ninja squirrels scampering around a few times a day.

    Posted 2 years ago #         

13. Ken
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    Just in case you have lived in a city all your life....

    Raccoons mating are indistinguishable by sight or sound from Raccoons fighting.

    Posted 2 years ago #         

14. SEG
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    Sounds like a coyote to me. They make the most evil sound.

    Posted 2 years ago #         

15. jwws
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    TR,

    A tell-tale sign you have night-fighting ninja squirrels is the presence of "nut-chucks" in the yard in the a.m.

    Posted 2 years ago #         

16. JeffSavoie
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    The barred owls that often grace the pages of the blog, are displacing the smaller and once extremely common (to the Seattle area) western screech owl.
    Here's a link with descriptions and samples of western screech owl sounds;
    http://www.owling.com/Western_Screech.htm

    The barn owl, also screeches;
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58_8S5-tkoU&feature=related

    It's currently "dispersal time", for the raccoon, and fighting can be heard, late into the night, as family groups begin to break up.
    As Ken mentioned, fighting and breeding sounds differ very little, but breeding season is still quite a ways off.
    Here's a link to a raccoon fight;
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFOx8xJRXW4&feature=related

    The raccoons in the cage, in the link above aren't mad, they are juveniles, and they aren't real happy to have been captured... they want their mama. :(

    The raccoon population, in Seattle, is way beyond the norm, and fighting for food and territory, can be heard throughout the year, often times over the best sleeping tree (like the one on the corner of 26th and Brandon), or when one "gang" of young males bumps into another.

    The population level is high enough that pack mentality replaces solitude, in younger males.
    A female raccoon will stay with it's mother well into it's second year, learning how to be a mom herself (more than one female in a litter is rare).

    Jeff Savoie
    All City Animal Control

    Posted 2 years ago #         

17. LisaM
    Member Profile

    

    do you live near WS High School? Cuz if you do like I do, it's the kids turning do-nuts in the parking lot - over and over and over...

    Posted 2 years ago #         

18. In2theknight
    Member Profile

    

    I'm sorry, I've been practicing for the next American Idol and only have time to sing at night. So you're saying I shouldn't go ahead with my rendition of Mambo #5?

    Posted 2 years ago #         

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