Can you identify this bird call that I recorded at night?

I love listening to bird calls, but the site is private and won’t let me in.

Open, sesame.

Sorry about that. You can hear it now.

It’s very faint.

Here’s a much louder recording. Noisy little bugger, isn’t it?

Common snipe aka Wilson’s snipe.

” Gallinago delicata. WILSON’S SNIPE.—Common migrant, a few spending the winter. Possibly breeds.” Source

Would it normally call at night?

It sounds like a Boreal Owl to me. you can listen to the call (it’s loud) on the middle/left of this page

Considering the time of night, I’d say this is more likely an owl than a snipe. However, the Wilson’s snipe & the Boreal Owl do have similar calls. They are commonly mistaken for one another.

I think it is a Boreal Owl too. The recording that @SpatzieLover posted is closer and more clear, but definitely sounds the same.

That would be cool if is is a Boreal Owl. They are such tiny cute little owls that are only about 3 times the size of a Chickadee or Nuthatch. My recording sure sounds like one. I would like to check this bird on my bird list for sure. Tacoma is slightly south of their normal range. I guess that no one told the birds what their range is. HA!

I hear Great Horned Owls hooting very frequently in the woods around our house. But not on the night that I made this recording. I wonder if there is some kind of interactions between the two owls?

By the way a Snowy Owl was seen in Tacoma late last month. That is very rare. They usually hang out in north polar regions. See this

@gondwanalon My mom had a visit about 30 yrs ago from a Snowy Owl. When she called the museum to report it, they didn’t believe her…later the same week the bird made the newspaper. It’s also a rare sight here in south eastern Wisconsin ;)

She just couldn’t get over how brave he was. He didn’t flinch when she went to look at him very close up.

We have horned owls and screech owls that also seem to communicate at the same time of night. Like you, I have wondered if they are interacting with one another, or if it’s just a timely happening.

About 8 yrs ago we had an odd jet stream. During the “odd” trough (it dipped lower than normal) we had a Mountain Bluebird visit our yard. It was so windy, however, that by the time I thought to grab the camera, he was off in the wind.

@SpatzieLover That Mountain Bluebird would catch about anyone’s attention. Such brilliant blue!

I’ll be listening more at night to perhaps hear dulling hooting. I would really like to hear and record that. It is snowing tonight and so far all the owls are very tight lipped. They’ll likely start up hooting again later tonight as I go to bed. Maybe they are too busy hunting right now to humor me with a few hoots.