You might be on the right track, Mark. I got an off-list response that
also suggested flying squirrel, which might explain a sound event a
few minutes earlier that could easily be one landing in the leaves
nearby. Also, some further poking around on the web indicates several
small woodland rodent species that occur in northern Minnesota, but no
mention of rats, except the Norway Rat, always in the immediate
vicinity of people.
So for now, I'll tentatively ID it as Flying Squirrel.
Curt Olson
Mark Phinney wrote:
> 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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