This is a casual, drawn-out sort of call, only in daylight, and seems to come always from the same direction (as if it’s some neighbor’s pet bird taking the air on a screened porch or something). Sort of a contralto HOOO HOOOO. Whatever it is, it sho’ got a set of pipes, I’m telling you.

Yeh, I’m surprised at the diminution of wildlife around here — I left my lot as raw woods, just shoehorning the house into the trees, and it’s not like EVERY yard has been totally clear-cut (though more than I like to see). But the critters sure are lying low anymore.

For years, two half-wolf dawgs lived on the next street over, and WAS I relieved when they moved away or croaked (howled at every dawn). Even the mean ol’ tomcat I called The Yulla Peril has stopped coming ’round. Now the only mystery is what kind of bird (or something) is making the strange calls I can’t ID. Not quite like peacocks’ but in that direction . . .

But of course we have the Pearl River to our east, and a number of little creeks flow through town, and I think the critters use these to travel unobserved as they infiltrate and exfiltrate the area.

For years after I built my house out here, it was deep woods (hardwood hammock) all around, and I used to hear raccoons and possums and ARMADILLOS busyin’ theysefs all the time.

Now the burbs have engulfed me and I’m lucky to see squirrels and hear a few owls a year. Wah.