Yowiehunters Forum

I've started this thread because I have decided to share my research of an area I have had several experiences
over the past several years. Firstly because I believe in open research and secondly so I can use the
forum membership as a sounding board. To be honest I have in the past needed help in not overthinking sounds.
Rusty2 identified my Yowie Scream recording as being simply a fox. I had never heard one. I have found research to be a learning curve and since 2010 I feel I know now, really, as little as I knew when I started.

No photographs or video but, strangely many recordings particularly on still windless nights. I'll still hang a camera trap, for what good I don't know, but the recordings are strange enough to be captured and mentioned.(to me)

A year ago I captured the following recordings (headphones recommended) over a few days at a creek in the mountains outside Canberra. I have just returned after a years break from research and this was an area I still believe to be active. Vehicle access was banned a few years ago and since then the area has become noticeably unvisited and noticeably active with odd sounds.

The following recordings were captured in Feb 2016

Sounds of something crashing through the bush followed by a minute of fox screaming before a mob of cockatoos start calling. What was going on I have no idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7BrAhIZhew

Captured this recording of what I think is a subject walking up a creek,
tampering with the recorder (strapped 5 feet up a tree trunk) then continuing on up the creek.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_sSYF6Tdyo&t=1s

A short recording of two distinct close wood-knocks with a distant reply after the 2nd..
followed by what I think could be a vocalisation. (grunt)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV6i0OzU2KM&t=1s

I am placing some equipment out in the morning and will return for a poke around at night with another researcher who has recently returned from the Blue Mountains on Friday.

Cheers Dave

Excellent quality recordings - the wood knocks/grunt one is especially interesting. It definitely seems as if the wood knocks are deliberate and in response to each other. The grunt is unusual, but inconclusive.

The recording of the possible tampering with the device is fascinating as well....it seems unlikely that anyone would be out there on their own, or that a group of people would not be conversing - or would not speak once they'd found the recording device. It's weird, for sure. Again, it's intriguing, but it isn't proof. I've got no doubt that you recorded something not human in that one, but that's all I'd be prepared to say.

The 'screams' recording is also interesting (and those also sound like Plovers to me, not cockatoos, although I'm not an expert by any means). Clearly something is causing consternation, but again, it's inconclusive.

I'm impressed by your work, though - excellent stuff!

Welcome back Dave !

Do you have the original recording of the "crashing through the bush followed by a minute of fox screaming"

If you do I could probabaly do some calculations on the footsteps .

Simon M wrote:
The 'screams' recording is also interesting (and those also sound like Plovers to me, not cockatoos, although I'm not an expert by any means). Clearly something is causing consternation, but again, it's inconclusive.

I'm impressed by your work, though - excellent stuff!

Thank you Simon. Excellent feedback. Yes. Your the second person to point out Plovers. I'll keep having a poke around to see if anything substantial pops up but its certainly peaked my interest.

Rusty2 wrote:Welcome back Dave !

Do you have the original recording of the "crashing through the bush followed by a minute of fox screaming"

If you do I could probabaly do some calculations on the footsteps .

Thanks Rusty that would be great. I had this file stored on sound cloud so this is a download of that file. I can't remember if it is the raw file or one I have amplified. this time around I'm going to document and store this stuff better than I did before. Time to finally get organised.

DaveR wrote:

Simon M wrote:
The 'screams' recording is also interesting (and those also sound like Plovers to me, not cockatoos, although I'm not an expert by any means). Clearly something is causing consternation, but again, it's inconclusive.

I'm impressed by your work, though - excellent stuff!

Thank you Simon. Excellent feedback. Yes. Your the second person to point out Plovers. I'll keep having a poke around to see if anything substantial pops up but its certainly peaked my interest.

I would think that the different species of cockatoos would have different calls (mostly guessing here), but the ones here don't sound like sulphur-crested white cockatoos. The grunts are hard to distinguish, but could they be pigs / wallabies / koalas?

gregvalentine wrote:

DaveR wrote:

Simon M wrote:
The 'screams' recording is also interesting (and those also sound like Plovers to me, not cockatoos, although I'm not an expert by any means). Clearly something is causing consternation, but again, it's inconclusive.

I'm impressed by your work, though - excellent stuff!

Thank you Simon. Excellent feedback. Yes. Your the second person to point out Plovers. I'll keep having a poke around to see if anything substantial pops up but its certainly peaked my interest.

I would think that the different species of cockatoos would have different calls (mostly guessing here), but the ones here don't sound like sulphur-crested white cockatoos. The grunts are hard to distinguish, but could they be pigs / wallabies / koalas?

Thanks Greg. Yes It could be a grunt from a known animal. I wouldn't have paid much attention to it without the other sounds. Just rang to me as odd but not nearly a good enough recording to make any guesses.

Here's the results Dave but there are some IF's .

I've measured the last 5 footsteps in the recording which sound the most like normal walking .

The stride length is 24.3% longer than mine which should make him or her around 7.07 foot tall . That is IF he or she walking in a normal fashion .

He or she has a 65% heavier impact than myself BUT that's IF he or she is walking in a normal fashion . The type of audio recorder and quality settings may very well play a part in the impacts as well but I wouldn't know . He or she appears to be around 121 kilo's .

For the people who have their doubts about these calcualtions , don't worry , I have my doubts too and have contacted 5 other scientists about the theory but none have got back to me yet . So this is a theory at the moment and the calculations are an estimation .

He or she seems to be tall and skinny .

Rusty2 wrote:For the people who have their doubts about these calcualtions , don't worry , I have my doubts too and have contacted 5 other scientists about the theory but none have got back to me yet . So this is a theory at the moment and the calculations are an estimation .

He or she seems to be tall and skinny .

Thank you so much Rusty. It was a standard Sony Notetaker running on highest quality. I will have to come back with the details as I put the gear out today. I must say it's very satisfying to have a mental image now to match the recording. As for your method I don't see any reason in not having faith in it as a tested theory when there is no research to compare with it.

Well I'm using the same recorder on the same settings so the actual calculations should be close .
Trevor has pointed out recently that I probably shouldn't have been wearing running shoe's when doing the test .
The estimated height should be within 2 inches if it's walking normaly .
The impact measurments are correct , the question is , can I compare my impacts to measure other impacts ? Even if it's 10 or 20 kilo's off , at this point it's still a good way to get a "mental image" as you say .

Thank-you again Rusty. Your analysis is really appreciated. I've given it some thought. I wonder what the likelihood of someone 7 feet tall weighing 120 kilos walking through the thick bush at this location at night. Playing Devils Advocate I suppose its possible that one of the Canberra Cannons was going for a stroll alone in the dark in the bush but then I think probably not. I reset the recorder at 2PM this afternoon. I'm returning Friday night for a poke around and pick up the gear.

Just an update..

The creek running through the area is a perennial stream that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Historical Aboriginal camp-sites have also been found on the creek banks of the creek it joins.

The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is 1150 metres

The electronics were set yesterday at 2 pm. Planned pick-up Friday night when myself and another researcher plan to conduct a night investigation.

Update:

the gear was set out twice for 3 nights recording with no definate reportable results. The gear was retrieved after 2 nights (three days) owing to total fire bans that see the national park locked off. On the second night at about 2 am and again at around 3 am the following Tapping/knocking/thumping? noises were recorded. I have uploaded the first series but could not upload the second set because of the 20 mg restriction but it is the same noise just for a longer period. If anyone has any ideas on what the noise could be please share.

Both recordings are in this video..

https://youtu.be/WhZH0I5RQ-Y

Disappointing Dave .
If you use this phone charger , plugged into the audio recorder it will last for an entire week . $7 is cheap as .
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/241702

Rusty2 wrote:Disappointing Dave .
If you use this phone charger , plugged into the audio recorder it will last for an entire week . $7 is cheap as .
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/241702

Thanks Rusty. That one was expired but I found the same thing on e-bay under $20. Arrives 24th.

Yes mate it is disappointing. I know they are in there just have to set-up in the right spot at the right time as they say The extra days recording will help. Plus I need to go a bit deeper I feel.

Update:

Set the gear out last monday and retrieved it yesterday. I have gone through the full three nights recordings and detected multiple recordings of walking, tree snapping and a seies of 'woops' that sounded human though in that location, at that time, I think it unlikely.

At about 6.30 am on the second morning I captured what I think was a territorial Display.. I think he/she was upset about my gear being there. It approaches the recorder several times over 5 minutes and crashes around snapping branches intermitantly.

Best to use headphones

https://soundcloud.com/dave-reid-556563 ... ng-6-30-am

excellent area to go for a look.
from the bimberi wilderness across to bogong peaks wilderness.
very remote and inaccessible.
have spent a lot of time in those areas a long way in behind the locked gates over the last 30 years and heard enough tree knocks in the dead of night to know they're in there.
keep up the good work.

Kinash wrote:excellent area to go for a look.
from the bimberi wilderness across to bogong peaks wilderness.
very remote and inaccessible.
have spent a lot of time in those areas a long way in behind the locked gates over the last 30 years and heard enough tree knocks in the dead of night to know they're in there.
keep up the good work.

Thanks Kinash..

you've been there. You know exactly what I'm talking about.

Nice work, Dave!

Be even better if there was some video to go with those footsteps...

Searcher wrote:Nice work, Dave!

Be even better if there was some video to go with those footsteps...

Thanks Searcher. Yes. Unfortunately out of my technical ability. I think, after setting out ir cameras for a long time, that only a system like Rusty's has a chance. I think I set a camera when I go out out of habit. I really dont think a yowie will ever walk in front of one. But hey! I could be wrong.

DaveR wrote:Update:

Best to use headphones

https://soundcloud.com/dave-reid-556563 ... ng-6-30-am

Very, very interesting.

Simon M wrote:

DaveR wrote:Update:

Best to use headphones

https://soundcloud.com/dave-reid-556563 ... ng-6-30-am

Very, very interesting.

Agree Simon. Somethings going on out there.

This was a recording captured at 5.30 pm the first day. This was about 3 hours after I left. I asked Rusty to do his magic which he has done wonderfully..

Message To Rusty..

I hope you dont mind me bugging you but Id really like an idea on this suspected subject. I got my gear out today from a new area and this was the first suspect recording of 5 on the first night starting a few hours after I left... Is it walking mate? I think I'm on the right track. Seems to take an awful lot of steps for a wallaby.

https://soundcloud.com/dave-reid-556563 ... -first-day

Reply:

Hey Dave , the subject has a 15% shorter stride length than myself . This is also .8% shorter than a wallaby . This should make him or her 147cm tall or 4.8 foot tall .
The subject has a 150% lighter impact than myself BUT when calculating this , it would mean than the subject doesn't weigh anything . This is a problem with my calculations . It would seem that I can't calculate anything lighter than myself .
Due to daytime ambient noise interfering with the recording , it may make the subject heavier
The charts are saying that it is what we think it is BUT I can't calculate it's weight . I've got some thinking to do .

At three AM the recorder picked up what I would describe as a vocalisation. It sounds like it could be produced by a person but there where no indications before or after of human involvement with the site. There is one nearby vehicle access of which vehicles can be detected several km's away in the dead of night.

I've sent this file off to a wildlife expert named Gary Opit asking for confirmation whether or not this is a known Australian animal's sound and several other researchers for their comment.

https://soundcloud.com/dave-reid-556563 ... whoops-3am (9 seconds)

Well the 'whoops' do sound like a human voice is making them, but who'd be out there doing that at that time of the morning? Why wouldn't they actually speak if they were calling out to someone? Besides, if one of these creatures is going to sound like anything, given what we know about their physiology, that's what their vocalisations would most closely resemble; our own.

The prior 'footsteps' recording is amazing, especially on the second listen. It's so unmistakably the sound of footsteps, without any doubt (in my mind, anyhow). It's not jumping or on all fours, it sounds like someone walking on two legs, crashing through the undergrowth. Perhaps there was a human scent in that area from when the recording device was placed and whatever made the sounds was attempting to warn off a suspected intruder?

Bear in mind I'm no expert in any field related to animal research or sound analysis, but just an armchair crypto enthusiast. It does sound like what you'd expect it to sound like, however.

I do now wonder about some of the other animal calls that are present: are they what they seem to be or are they an example of the Yowie's ability to mimic the sounds made by other creatures?

Apparently Gary Opit has identified the sounds before according to Rusty.


"Gary Opit says it's a call from a boobook owl . He was aware of it and had a particular name for it . A mating call or something .
I have recorded it maybe 10 times or so in the last 7 years without any related movement so I think he's right . There's a number of versions of the call ."

Simon M wrote:
I do now wonder about some of the other animal calls that are present: are they what they seem to be or are they an example of the Yowie's ability to mimic the sounds made by other creatures?

Thanks Simon. Yes I wonder this also. The same as I wonder if Lyre Birds don't mimick them. It would be an interesting thing to solve.

DaveR wrote:Apparently Gary Opit has identified the sounds before according to Rusty.


"Gary Opit says it's a call from a boobook owl . He was aware of it and had a particular name for it . A mating call or something .
I have recorded it maybe 10 times or so in the last 7 years without any related movement so I think he's right . There's a number of versions of the call ."

Well, at least we know what the sounds are (I've never heard that call, or heard of that variety of owl).

Even so, the sounds of movement still resemble the sound of upright walking through the scrub.

Simon M wrote:
Even so, the sounds of movement still resemble the sound of upright walking through the scrub.

Thankyou and totally agree Simon. A few people think so, so I'm not imagining it