In my last post, I let you hear the horrendous sound that came from our yard this week.  The first time we heard it, it awoke us from a deep sleep.  The second time we were just getting ready to turn the lights out but decided there was no point trying to sleep until things had quieted down.

At first, it seemed like a woman screaming in pain.  Then we realized it was an animal, and thought maybe it was getting eaten by a larger animal.  But the noise kept going and going.  Then we thought maybe the animal had gotten hurt and was in pain.  I grabbed a flashlight and went out on the deck in my PJs to check things out.  I heard animals scatter in the woods.  The noise went further away for a moment, but then it came back.

We have a lot of deer that run through our yard, so I figured it was the deer.  We also have foxes, too, and other woodland creatures like raccoons, possums, chipmunks, squirrels and more.  I could tell it was an animal of substantial size because of the scattering sounds I heard when I shined the light out into the woods, plus the sound itself was quite loud.  Eventually I went back inside, and it stopped not too much later.

When we heard the sound again a couple nights later just before we were planning to go to sleep, I decided to record it on my phone so I could share it with you, with friends and family on Facebook, and with people at work, so that hopefully somebody could tell us what it is.  (That was the recording I shared last time.)  The other nice thing about hearing it a second time (other than the annoyance of not being able to go to sleep until it stopped) is that I was certain the animal was not in pain, because surely it would not have happened two times within three days.

I also did an online search for deer sounds, but none of them fit the bill.  I did get a hint from a family member that it could be a fox, so I did a search for fox sounds and found a !


They either make the noise when they're trying to locate other foxes, especially in mating season, which is late winter and early spring.  Or it has something to do with territories and submission.  I was getting a little confused in my fox sounds research, but I think it's the former.

So glad the mystery is solved, and I'm hoping my little fox friend respects our sleep patterns and keeps his nighttime noises to himself!

Hollie