What bird is this

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
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Every night in our residencial I hear this sound. It flies fast and it's dark so I can't see it. Any bird expert that can tell me what bird it is (and how to kill it) (just kidding)?

http://snd.sc/1kKptpA
 

jabejuventus

Bronze
Feb 15, 2013
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Don't know the bird, but the sound is familiar. Also, it's my understanding that birds don't fly at night (they can't see well). Bats do, but I don't think they are considered birds; nor, do they make that sound. Also, bird expert = ornithologist.
 

LTSteve

Gold
Jul 9, 2010
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What you are describing sounds to me like a bat. Are you saying it is in your house or outside? Unfortunately if it is a bat and it is living in the house or coming in at night you will have to kill it otherwise if you let it outside it will just find its way back in. Do you have windows open at night or are there other ways a bat could be coming in.
A tennis racket or broom works well in swatting the bat out of the air. Been there done that.

LTSTeve
 
Aug 6, 2006
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I have heard that sound here in Miami. I don't think it is a bat. Birds do not have to be flying to chirp.
 

wrecksum

Bronze
Sep 27, 2010
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It's a nighthawk.
Marvellous visitor this time of year and a falcon-type hunter.
They fly in the evenings and night and when they stoup to accelerate you can hear the air through their feathers.
From the underside, if you can see them in the light, they appear to have Airforce-type roundels on their wings.
The sound of 'Pretty-pink, pretty-pink, pretty-pink' is characteristic and the whoosh of air through their feathers at the bottom of the dive is amazing.

You'll never kill (heaven forbid!) or catch one. They are falcon fast and beautiful..
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
5,607
7
38
It's a nighthawk.
Marvellous visitor this time of year and a falcon-type hunter.
They fly in the evenings and night and when they stoup to accelerate you can hear the air through their feathers.
From the underside, if you can see them in the light, they appear to have Airforce-type roundels on their wings.
The sound of 'Pretty-pink, pretty-pink, pretty-pink' is characteristic and the whoosh of air through their feathers at the bottom of the dive is amazing.

You'll never kill (heaven forbid!) or catch one. They are falcon fast and beautiful..

Thanks! I hope it's that and not a bat, else my wife won't go out anymore after 7pm.

The sound of the air through the feathers is characteristic. Will try to spot it to confirm.
 

zoomzx11

Gold
Jan 21, 2006
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Do not tell the wife but its bats. They do make a hi pitched chirp. Some areas of the DR are loaded with bats, like my house, at night. They fly fast and are very hard to see, eating flying insects. At first I was nervous they would crash into me but its never happened.
 
Aug 6, 2006
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Neither neither bats, nor nighthawks, nor owls are a danger to humans. Bats are a nuisance if they happen to get tangled in your wife's hair, but unless she is into Nashville Country singer's beehive Big Hair, this is quite unlikely.
 

wrecksum

Bronze
Sep 27, 2010
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Like 'em or not, bats are the major controlling force on all those pesky insects..

Bats consume literally tons of insects daily (nightly?) and without them , our tropical lives would be a lot nastier.

They are excellent fliers, guided by self-generated sound waves and the possibility of one tangling in your weave is pretty low.
It would have to be a goofy one who's switched off its Sonar and is thinking about something else than not crashing or has picked up the sound of nits.
Swimming pools claim a few and a fast cat can get them sometimes but evolution will sort that out.

Leave 'em be to get on with their work and you will find them fascinating animals...

To stop them roosting in outside pergolas etc. put up a lattice of fishing line at the roofline and they will stay away.

(But the sound was a Nighthawk, not a bat.)
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
5,607
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Great find! English Wikipedia says it's not known where they stay in winter, Spanish version sas it's supposed they stay in South America.

Unfortunately I never hear him during the day (but literally every evening), so it's hard to spot him.