And, Tulip "Called" It

There's been a strange bird call up in one of the areas that Tulip and I walk the dog. Neither of us had ever heard it before. It's a single, quick whistle that's sounded in pretty regular repetitions. It's definitely not the versatile repertoire of a raven. The first time we'd heard it was about two weeks ago and it had seemed to time well with some machinery working nearby to clear old snow drifts.

We've been hearing it quite a bit since and it's definitely not from machinery that's long since departed the area.

We were walking the Weewolfe last night and the bird began to whistle again. This time, it sounded like it was no more than about twenty feet from the trail we were walking. We stopped and watched but could never quite pinpoint where it was in the trees.

Tulip thought it sounded like a high-pitched hoot and commented that we were up in back of an area where we'd seen a Northern Pygmy Owl in the past. She got excited and asked, "could it be?"

Very excited, she went right to Google when we got back home and found this:

She was spot on!