Last year in October two guests named Debbie and David Anderson came off the boardwalk and approached the front desk where I was working to ask if I could identify a sound. Now, if you work at a nature center, any guest approaching and expecting you to identify a sound they heard just by describing can be a hit or miss on your chance of figuring it out. But when someone comes to you with an actual recording? Always a treat.

Well, I’ll do my best to show you what I mean by describing the sound as best as I can. It sort of sounds like “Oo-ow! Oo-ow!” and is high, like a monkey. There’s a little trill between the two notes like a rolling R. What does that do for you? You could also say it sounds like a peacock that keeps getting interrupted.

Well, when I heard the Andersons’ recording I knew immediately what it was. I had long associated this call with the American Crow, or at least, the ones that spend time around Beidler. Our crows used to have legendary territorial fights with Red-shouldered Hawks along the powerline just north of the center, calling back and forth all day. A decade later I now hear more crows than hawks, so I’m guessing the crows won.

While they still do the “caw caw” as is tradition this other sound is not what a person would expect to hear from a crow. From what I can tell it appears to be their local dialect (though I would love to know if people hear this elsewhere). Crows have the ability to pass down knowledge between generations, they can teach less experienced crows about an approaching enemy, and they will teach their children how to use tools, who learn by observing.

The Andersons have graciously shared the recording with me, and personally it’s like having a real video of bigfoot. I’ve never been able to get a recording of it before because it is so very sporadic. They don’t always make the noise, and I don’t know what they are trying to communicate with that specific sound, it could be anything to an danger incoming or it’s playtime. It was windy that day so I’ve tried to reduce some of the noise and bring up the actual call. You’ll probably need to turn up your volume, but check the recording out! The next time you’re in the area keep an ear out for this secret crow call.