I'm not so sure they're rats, Martyn....I know that rats are quite
'naturalised' in the forests of the northwest, where you are, but as a
general rule - rats aren't found too far from cities and farms in eastern &
central North America. Especially in northern Minnesota, which would
probably be too chilly for them to survive away from humans. It doesn't
appear that Minnesota has native woodrats (packrats) either....
My tentative vote would be for Flying Squirrels - another favourite food of
the barred owl - and the ones I have around my house make similar high
frequency noises.
Mark Phinney
On Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 1:12 PM, Martyn Stewart <>wrote:
>
>
> They are rats, Curt. They are obviously agitated by the barred owl in
> the vicinity. I have many recordings of rats vocalising like this.
>
> Martyn
> ------------------------------------------------
> Martyn Stewart
> www.naturesound.org
>
> 425-898-0462
> -------------------------------------------------
> Make every garden a wildlife habitat
>
>
> On Oct 13, 2010, at 12:06 PM, Curt Olson wrote:
>
> > Ladies and Gents,
> >
> > I had the opportunity to make a couple overnight recordings last
> > weekend in extreme northern Minnesota. Here's something I've never
> > heard before, but surely someone here has. I suspect it's a tiny
> > mammal. Most interesting to me is that the call is up in the 10Khz-
> > plus range, which challenges one of my aging ears. Anyone know what
> > this might be?
> >
> > http://www.trackseventeen.com/soundblog/x101010_0235-unknown.mp3
> >
> > And then, just for kicks... here are a couple other short clips from
> > those nighttime recordings...
> >
> > 1) A small flock of American Woodcock (is "flock" the right word for
> > it?) moving through the area (recorded approximately 6:30 AM on
> > October 9th)
> >
> > http://www.trackseventeen.com/soundblog/x101009_0630-
> > woodcock_flock.mp3
> >
> > 2) A Barred Owl calling very close to my gear (recorded approximately
> > 2:45 AM on October 10th):
> >
> > http://www.trackseventeen.com/soundblog/x101010_0245-barred_owl.mp3
> >
> > Curt Olson
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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