5 am finds me lightly dressed, with a cup of coffee in hand, standing on the front porch in the predawn darkness. The air clings with a damp chill from the previous night’s rain. I instinctively  feel the underlying hint of promised warmth in the weeks ahead. Down by the creek, the croaking of the peepers blends with the water rushing over the rocks in the creek, still swollen after weeks of melting snow pack and rain, like the musical blending of woodwinds with percussion. In the distance, the faint glow of our closest neighbor’s security light filters through the pine needles.

Suddenly, an awful shrieking rends the night. My first thought is of a small, woeful animal dying violently. It’s over in mere seconds. At the moment of what should have been the coup de gras, a loud clanking drowns out the night. On Rt. 52, some 400 or 500 yards away, the rusty putt-putt of an elderly pickup truck chugs around the curve. As it sputters off into the distance, I feel cheated and slightly annoyed…..the night settles round me once again, wet and silent. Turning to leave the chill, I hear a brief, but terrible, shriek. Then another. Somewhat chagrined, I realize my mistake. It is the sound of a night bird I’m hearing…. possibly an owl?

Inside, while the laptop boots-up, I pour another cup of strong black coffee, a Louisiana brand made richer with chicory. I take a sip and savor the mildly bitter aftertaste. The combination of the coffee’s warmth and the lingering chill sends a pleasant shiver through me.  A google search lands me on the Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology’s website. Oh cool. They have pictures, videos and…. sounds! This is great!  A quick search tells me my initial choice is wrong. It wasn’t a screech owl I heard. Hmmm…maybe it’s this one. Yeah, I bet it is. I don’t know what kind of sound it makes, but I know one has a nest in the woods across the way. That’s it! That’s the sound I heard. A red-tailed hawk! And it’s a mating call. That awful shriek is from a nasty, avian predator trying to get lucky. A birdie booty call. Heh heh heh…I’ll be damned.

Quoting from Cornell’s page on the red-tail, Adults make a hoarse, screaming kee-eeeee-arr. It lasts 2-3 seconds and is usually given while soaring. During courtship, they also make a shrill chwirk, sometimes giving several of these calls in a row.

This is the most impressive website I’ve seen to date on birds. Another site you might want to check is published by the National Audubon Society. http://www.audubon.org/