Does anyone have any idea what this is?

[Neil Frost]

G'day,

Sorry Dean, Mike, Paul and many others who have heard this recording before, many times! Perhaps a broader audience can help? This was recorded at a local site after an encounter a few weeks later. Does anyone know what it could be, other than what we would like to think it is? By the way, it was also recorded on a Sony ICD - BX800.

Neil

[David Brenton]

Sounds very much like a moth on the microphone.

[Rusty2]

Hey Neil ,
Just wondering where this recording was taken . Was it inside or out side , in the bush or in suburbia . It sounds like something searching through a container of plastic objects while eating a packet of chips . As for the fluttering and chattering , dunno , its a wiered one .

Rusty2................

[Neil Frost]

Hey Neil ,
Just wondering where this recording was taken . Was it inside or out side , in the bush or in suburbia . It sounds like something searching through a container of plastic objects while eating a packet of chips . As for the fluttering and chattering , dunno , its a wiered one .

Rusty2................

G’day Rusty2,

The recorder was located at a bush site with a long history of activity and shortly after a group of us had an encounter there. The recorder was wrapped in cling film for water proofing and placed inside a hollow log with leaf litter on top of it, at a height of about a metre. The LED was turned off in preferences and set to record at SHQ with high sensitivity. The surrounding area was on a slight incline and very heavily covered in crunchy leaf litter to a depth of about 50 mm. The recorder was left after sundown and the activity seems to have occurred during the evening sometime.

Whatever made these sounds I am unsure but, there seem to be two of them because a fainter second call is heard after the first. If I had to guess what else it could be, I would suggest that it could be a bush turkey: don’t know enough about these birds. Does anyone know?

Thanks,

Neil

[Buck]

Hi Neil

I can't say what it is but after listening to it about a dozen times this is what I could hear.

Beginning to finish, this is the soundscape to me.

Running water not close by for nearly 2 seconds.

Some very quick steps on gravel close by for almost 3 seconds.

Then what I interperet around the 5 to 6 second mark loud chewing...

at 7 secs a shuffle in the gravel

Some more chewing... a couple of footsteps from a second party, close but not right near the mic.

At around 11 secs something flaps towards the mic. It sounds very close to the mic

It stops flapping briefly...

A few little steps or foot movements by the creature that was chewing...

The flapping recommences and by 15 secs is flapping on top of the mic.

It stops flapping enough to hear some more foot movement, a little tentatative and investagative...

Around 18 seconds the flapping restats but not as vigorous...

A few more steps from the interested party

23 seconds recording finishes.

Maybe check out the the 5- 6 second mark and see if you can hear chewing.

Great recording. Was there more of it?

Cheers Buck

[Neil Frost]

Hi Neil

I can't say what it is but after listening to it about a dozen times this is what I could hear.

Beginning to finish, this is the soundscape to me.

Running water not close by for nearly 2 seconds.

Some very quick steps on gravel close by for almost 3 seconds.

Then what I interperet around the 5 to 6 second mark loud chewing...

at 7 secs a shuffle in the gravel

Some more chewing... a couple of footsteps from a second party, close but not right near the mic.

At around 11 secs something flaps towards the mic. It sounds very close to the mic

It stops flapping briefly...

A few little steps or foot movements by the creature that was chewing...

The flapping recommences and by 15 secs is flapping on top of the mic.

It stops flapping enough to hear some more foot movement, a little tentatative and investagative...

Around 18 seconds the flapping restats but not as vigorous...

A few more steps from the interested party

23 seconds recording finishes.

Maybe check out the the 5- 6 second mark and see if you can hear chewing.

Great recording. Was there more of it?

Cheers Buck

G’day Buck,

Thanks for taking the time to review the recording. It seems that everybody, including me, has a different take on it. I don’t think that we will ever know but, I thought that it was interesting. I known from the BFF that our American friends would also have a different take again. Anyway, you should drop in again for a visit.

Thanks,

Neil

[Fisho]

hi Neil,
i can definately here chewing of something which sounds very crunchy or ripe. Maybe some type of fruit?
You can here a hollow sounding bite just before the sound clip ends, possible possom or wallaby? i have hand fed brush tail possums and they have a similar sounding chew (apples)
The flapping noise is strange, but fractionally after the 13 second mark i can hear a "chirp chirp" amongst other rustling noises.?
Footsteps sound alot bigger than a bird though, very bi-pedal like.

Could be a big guy eating a christmas beetle?
Cheers Reece

[Buck]

Hi Neil

Should have read your description before I posted. Leaf litter, not gravel... well at least it was unbiased.

I'm not sure about the Bush Turkey being your culprit as they roost high up at night. They hit the trees on dusk, we had a gang of 11 roaming my back yard in suburban Annerley. The males do have this resonant boom type call, like a small bass drum.

I'll definately drop by soon as I'm hanging to hit the local track again and see what's changed since I've been up in QLD. I'll e first as I don't want to disturb any areas you're looking into.

Cheers Buck

[Neil Frost]

G’day Buck & Reece,

Thank you both for your input.

I am not very knowledgeable about the bush turkey. I didn’t know that they roosted above the ground but, could not think of anything else here that could account for the recording. See plenty of bush turkey normally. I did put one of Dean’s cameras there shortly after to try and video the bugger; no luck. I don’t know what else it could be. The “chattering” or whatever it is, is very interesting though. It seems to be some form of communication or, why else would “it” make the noise. The second, fainter sound seems to be a reply, sounds different? In my opinion, the approach to the recorder is bipedal, so I agree with you Reece. Whatever it is, it is certainly nocturnal and that is most likely why no one has any idea.

Neil

[Pandabear]

Sounds like a carpenter eating Doritos. But seriously, it could be anything. That must be the most annoying thing about Yowie research. So much stuff that can't be proved. Was the recorder put up high enough to discount other creatures?

[Pandabear]

By the way, the flutter sounds, I believe, are caused simply by the vibrations of the membrane in the microphone. I've seen/ heard this on some professional microphones. If you see in recording studios, mics are mounted in tubes or brackets suspended by rubber bands or rubber straps to make sure the vibrations in the studio, including the speaker/singer's voice/ breath, does not add flutter to the sounds being recorded.

Perhaps you should mount the mic in some foam rubber as well, or hang it somewhere using rubber banding of some sort. A hair tie is useful for this. My guess is, it was on something fairly solid (am I right?) and whatever was munching was also causing vibrations that transferred through the log, into the mic. That's what I believe anyway.

[Neil Frost]

By the way, the flutter sounds, I believe, are caused simply by the vibrations of the membrane in the microphone. I've seen/ heard this on some professional microphones. If you see in recording studios, mics are mounted in tubes or brackets suspended by rubber bands or rubber straps to make sure the vibrations in the studio, including the speaker/singer's voice/ breath, does not add flutter to the sounds being recorded.

Perhaps you should mount the mic in some foam rubber as well, or hang it somewhere using rubber banding of some sort. A hair tie is useful for this. My guess is, it was on something fairly solid (am I right?) and whatever was munching was also causing vibrations that transferred through the log, into the mic. That's what I believe anyway.

G’day Pandabear,

Thanks for your input. The recorder was placed in a hollow log at a height of about one metre, on top of some lightly composted material and then camouflaged with leaf litter.

I thought that your explanation seemed pretty reasonable although I know little about microphones. However, after a couple of minutes, I realised that the second sound which seems to be a distant reply to the first, could not have caused the same flutter effect at that distance. Anyway, still can’t confidently say what made the sounds.

Neil

[Nikita]

It sounds like someone eating a bag of chips, though I did hear one heavy step and in the last 6 or so seconds there's like a chattering sound which is somewhat similar to what I've heard between two yowies when communicating to each other.

[Pandabear]

Interesting. I'll have to have another listen for that distant sound. BTW, do we have anyone on this forum that can break the recording down so that it highlights different frequencies, allowing us to listen to specific sounds? I don't have the expertise or the software to do it, but I'm sure someone out there must? It would be interesting to cut out some of the noise and see ( or hear) what we can hear throught it. Have you put it through any specific filters before you posted it Neil?

[sapere aude]

Audacity is good. It's free and easy to use. You can change speed, filter any frequency etc at any part of the clip, or the whole clip. If you want to save as mp3 you will need to install LAME encoder though. Sounds fiddly but it isn't.

Interesting at half speed with some noise filtered. I think the "fluttering" noise is really a vocal (possibly incorporating a "sniffing" sound) that is distorted in part (possibly due to being to close?). It does seem to give the impression of air being exhaled to make the sounds. What of, i hesitate to guess and I could be wrong anyway.

Give it a go and see what you come up with after fiddling around with it for a while.

[Neil Frost]

G’day,

Nikita: I have heard many sounds made by our hairy ones. Growling, roaring, grunting, panting, “mook...mook...mook” and more. If this recording is an example of another sound made by them and it seems increasingly like it maybe, then this suggests that they are capable of communicating in other ways, that are rarely heard. I could be wrong and that is fine!

I believe that the dooligahl are typically Australian, in the same way the the platypus, as a monotreme, was and is perceived as being something that is unbelievably strange by the rest of the world. As Australians, I think that we too often forget this and that there are countless examples of Australian biota that challenge the imagination and have resulted from the extensive experimentation that took place here during our long biological isolation in the Southern Ocean. Consequently, I believe that our dooligahl are not North American immigrants, even assuming that this would be possible since little else was capable of achieving the feat but, an integral part of our Australian wildlife. As with the majority of Australian animals, I believe that the dooligahl are marsupial, although I know that few would agree.

Certain characteristics confirm this for me. The “red eye” is certainly not a hominid characteristic, neither is panting, instead of sweating. This alone should alert everyone towards understanding that the dooligahl are not hominins or archaic humans like Homo erectus and other proposed candidates. The red eye reflection is characteristic of marsupials as green is characteristic of canines and horses. Game over. The speed of their movement which many commonly report, suggests either extreme efficiency or massive strength. Their strength is legendary but, in such a marginal environment, it would go against the biological logic. I think that they are possibly like macropods that similarly store their residual hopping energy in their tendons. Also, if they are related to macropods, then this could account for several related characteristics; including the observed difficulty in finding footprints; foot morphology and; the stealthy approach experienced by many and known as “featherfoot” by Aborigines. Of course, there are other supportive aspects that could be emphasized.

As a counter to the above, our fellow North American researchers do mention “chattering”, whatever this is because I do not know of any recordings to compare this with? This may be a problem as it could suggest a link but, is it no more than a coincidence, in the same way that a bipedal hominoid on either continent uses tools because the hands are free to do other things? Are there any North American readers who can comment on this recording?

Pandabear: The recording on the forum has been compressed to MP3 format from the original using an analogue to digital converter. In its rich form, I am not sure that I could upload it but, there might be alternatives. If I can, you might be able to extract more from it but, I think that there could be little to gain as it does not sound different in any detectible way.

Sapere aude: No filters have been applied other than those responsible for its compression to MP3. I think that any other filter would produce an artificial and misleading result.

Neil

[NoPolys]

G'Day Neil;

A couple of threads from the N.A. BFRO site that have "samurai chatter" you asked about.

http://www.bfro.net/avevid/SierraSo...ra_samurai2.mp3

http://www.bfro.net/avevid/SierraSo...rra_samurai.mp3

I think the links still work, they date from 2007 or so.

Cheers
Nopolys

[Rusty2]

Hey Neil !
Hope you dont mind me playing with your audio . I took the high frequencies out and got an interesting result at the fluttering or chattering section . Then I stretched it .

The 2 samples are below .

Cheer's Rusty2...........

[topender]

Hi Neil
After listening to your recording the other night with you, i was perplexed, it does sound to me like a throaty vibration noise during exhalation, which i have heard before ( well similar) and yes from a marsupial..and now i remember from what, it was from a Tassie devil, which i heard whilst i was working for the Melbourne zoo many years ago, they had made this noise several times when in their den, i was told that they made a wide range of vocalisations which surprised me.
As for the marsupial theory..it does make some sense when you crunch the numbers..which just makes it even more freaky, imagine it a highly intelligent marsupial apex predator...................damm you Frost , another theoretical line of thinking.

cheers

[Nikita]

Sorry NoPolys your link wouldn't work for me.

When hearing Rusty's new version the chattering sound is taken away when I compare the original to what I've heard. I also have heard lot's of different vocals we got our first general grunt at us this week. But I've head the gutteral talking to itself and more the chattering when they seem to be communicating between themselves.

Like I said we've even heard one imitate cockies and other birds. We were down the bush are could hear white cockies screeching looking all around us their were none at all in the trees actually I've never seen any in that part of the bush. As we moved we sensed it was the big fella and he kept imitating different birds like a lyre bird does but at double the noise level plus the fact he was following and closing in sort of gave it away on who it was.

[The yowie Mrx]

Hi Neil Frost
After Rusty's played with it .To me it sound a lot like a moth flutering its wings on the mic.I herd something like this on a doco.Was back in 1996 when Springywood had a bogen moth plage?
But I might be wrong?

[sapere aude]

Sapere aude: No filters have been applied other than those responsible for its compression to MP3. I think that any other filter would produce an artificial and misleading result.

Thanks Neil. I had assumed exactly that. I was talking about the different filters etc I applied to it. In much the same way as you can highlight, enlarge, slow different areas of video to get a better look, it's possible to do the same with audio. To isolate, slow or make some parts stand out etc, to get a better listen. This way I concluded the "fluttering" sound to be a vocal type noise. Though just a layman opinion and it is what it is. Whatever that may be.

The reference to being typically Australian re the Platypuss I find interesting. I have cause to think they are not mother natures most handsome effort in some ways, like she created something out of spare parts. Though logic tells me that to remain mysterious for this long, they cannot exist in any normal biological sense anyway. Which leaves............?

[Rusty2]

Hey Neil !
Have been screwing around with your audio ( AGAIN ) and found some chattering at the very end which seems to be from the animal/creature . I've stretched and enhanced it as far as I know how without loosing the whole picture . But I swear at the star its saying 1 2 and the rest sounds like an alien transmission I think if I look long and hard enough I could probably find verses from the bible . Know what I mean ? I'm hearing what I want to hear . This audio is starting to creep me out .

Cheer's mate ! Rusty2.........

[selkiedarre]

I wonder.. much like their superhuman strength, speed, unfathomable stealthing ability, inhuman vocal tone and volume, and apparent hightened awareness.. could it be their communication is at such frequencies and/or rapidity than we are unable to detect it as conversation/speech (eg sounds like fluttering)?

[Nikita]

Right at the very end of that copy the chattering sound I've heard was back.

[sapere aude]

Found this interesting about possible communication, from Loofs-Wissowa. It pertains more to his belief that 17th century physician Bontius was describing a different "Orang-Utan" than what is known by that name today. Most might already have read it, I don't research this way much.


"From two other contemporary Dutch travelers we have more information about the creatures Bontius described, confirming that they cannot be orang-utans. Thus we read that they communicate by "twittering" which is the precise word used independently by several informants describing wildmen in Indochina and the Caucasus; the noise orang-utans make has never been likened to the twitter of birds!"


http://www.bigfootencounters.com/biology/helmut2001.htm

[Neil Frost]

Found this interesting about possible communication, from Loofs-Wissowa. It pertains more to his belief that 17th century physician Bontius was describing a different "Orang-Utan" than what is known by that name today. Most might already have read it, I don't research this way much.


"From two other contemporary Dutch travelers we have more information about the creatures Bontius described, confirming that they cannot be orang-utans. Thus we read that they communicate by "twittering" which is the precise word used independently by several informants describing wildmen in Indochina and the Caucasus; the noise orang-utans make has never been likened to the twitter of birds!"


http://www.bigfootencounters.com/biology/helmut2001.htm

G’day Sapere Aude,

Thanks for that. A number of us were at the Myths & Monsters Conference in 2001 organized by Mike and Rebecca and heard Helmut’s paper. Helmut has done extensive anthropological fieldwork in Vietnam and Laos. I had forgotten about his reference to the “twittering” - very interesting.

Neil