Squirrel noises???

[Niki]

I was in the parking lot at work today and saw a hawk - which was a little odd seeing one in town, but then I saw a squirrel scurrying across the parking lot and dodging under the parked cars. The hawk swooped out of a tree down to get him, but the squirrel got under a car and then when the hawk had perched in another tree across the parking lot, the squirrel started running toward his tree. (I said, "hurry squirrel!" Yah, the hawk has to eat, but I didn't really want to see it unfold in front of me) Anyway, after just a minute or two, I heard noises coming from the squirrel tree. It almost sounded like young squawking birds...kinda, but then wondered if it was the squirrel yelling out a "hawk warning"?? I have never heard a squirrel noise before...do they even make noises? Do you suppose it was the squirrel or was the squirrel maybe bothering some birds?

[SherryR]

yes, squirrels make noises. . . they 'bark' 'scold' also sound like birds sometimes . . . a host of calls, but I cant identify them all. I know that when I lived in suburbs, there was one in our tree that would scold my dog when she'd come outside. Also, it stole my kids neon colored jump rope, dragged it up a tree, into a hole, and there it stayed. You know those cloth jumpropes for a buck? That's what it was. Dd left it outdoors. I wondered where it went, next day. Happened to look out the window, heard birds squawking, squirrel chittering, looked up, saw the jump rope disappearing into the hole, which I guess was the nest he or she was preparing. Or maybe it was a place where it would 'squirrel away' stuff, so to speak. Neat to watch. As he hoisted it in to the hole, little birds would come to peck & pull at it. I wondered if they thought it was some kind of psychedelic snake.

Sherry

[JJ Grandits]

Hang out in an area with a couple of red squirrels. Noise is an understatement.

[Bearfootfarm]

I looked out my window one day just in time to see a Red Tailed Hawk swoop down and grab a squirrel out of a tree. The squirrel hung on by one foot, and the hawk wouldnt let go either, so they hung there upside down for about 3 minutes until the squirrel finally gave in and the hawk flew off with him

Another time I saw one knock a squirrel out of a pine tree, but the squirrel won that time.

[Niki]

I would imagine that I have heard squirrels before but not realizing what I was hearing. It was a neat experience.

Sherry: That's funny about the jump rope. I bet that was neat to see.

JJ: I have never seen a red squirrel around here...a lot of gray and black ones, though. I had never seen a black squirrel until I came to Ohio. Where do the red ones tend to hang out?

BFF: I've always been a softie when it comes to animals...it's a hard decision on which one to route for - the predator or the prey. While I am glad I didn't witness the hawk obtaining his lunch, it would have been a new experience that I had never seen before.

[moonwolf]

Niki,
It's kind of amazing you were able to witness a raptor pursuing a squirrel, and in a city setting yet! I see squirrels and raptors all the time living in the country. In fact I wish the hawks and owls would take some of those pesky rascals away from around my house that like to chew on stuff.

The 'noises' that squirrels (red squirrels that I know about) are a chattering type of sound, especially when first startled. The squirrels like to tease my dogs, and then then give both an ongoing 'chattering' noise along with what is called 'barks'. Envision a dog that with a barking voice box correlated to size, and that a squirrel is a very small size and their 'barks' are sharp and quick in succession with pauses between. That's about the best I can describe in words if it makes any sense.

Here is a better way to learn the different squirrel sounds. A link to audioclips of actual squirrel sounds, including different species of squirrels. Hope that helps.

http://www.junglewalk.com/sound/Squirrel-sounds.htm

[Niki]

Thanks for the link, MW! It is a pretty small town where I work and the business is just on the edge of town, so still kinda ruralish sorta. I see hawks on my way to and frome work quite frequently. My shock was that it was in the parking lot. It was pretty amazing. The hawk at its closest was about 10 to 15 feet from me or so when it was in the tree.

This link is similar to what I heard except instead of a single "caw", it was more of a "caaaaaaaawka caaaaaw! caaaaaaaawka caaaaaw!" http://www.junglewalk.com/popup.asp?...malAudioID=721

[IMP]

I have squirrels outside my bedroom window and those bushy tails can get a little annoying when they start speaking up. They just go on and on and on!!!!!

[Old Vet]

The noise in the woods is temendoius. If you know what you are looking for you can track anything that is in their by sound. All you need to do is to seperate the noise as to species and listen for that noise.

I hate hawks and can't see why they are protected. They sure aren't endangered. They have decimated the game population around here. No one keeps bird dogs anymore because the hawks have nearly wiped out the quail. The only rabbits left are in town or people's yards. My favorite way to hunt rabbits used to be to track them in the snow to where they were sitting and sneak up and shoot them with a rifle. Sometimes you would track one and come to a point where the tracks just stopped. Those were the ones picked up by a hawk or owl. I drive in the country a lot and I haven't seen a rabbit in the country in at least 5 years. They may protect the hawks, but they can't protect them all.