Small "clicking" bird (1 Viewer)

[jlallard]

My dad said he heard a bird today that made a strange clicking or clacking sound. Almost like the sound you make when you open your mouth and hit your cheeks. He said it didn't chirp at all, just the clacking noises. He wasn't able to get a great look at it but he said it was pretty small, like a robin, all black and when the bird flapped his wings, it was extremely loud. We were hoping someone would be able to identify the bird for us. Sorry for the lacking description!

Thanks!

 

[nartreb]

What did the wings sound like?

 

[jmepler]

Maybe a Common Grackle or a Red-winged Blackbird. Listen to them here and here. Concentrate on their calls, rather than their songs.

 

[nartreb]

A roughly robin-sized black bird would likely be an icterid like a grackle or blackbird, and RWBBs in particular make a sort of clicking call that might fit the description, but I'm having trouble with the really loud wing flaps. Makes me wonder about a male spruce grouse.

 

[jlallard]

Thanks guys! I completely forgot to say that this is in the US in Vermont if that helps anyone!

 

[jmepler]

Was the sound that the bird made a call, or was it from the wings?

If the sound was from the wings it may have been a pigeon.

 

[Bob Philpott]

Have you tried looking at Stonechat song and call. Makes a sound like stones clacking together. I think you get them in USA. Although my definition of robin sized will be different to yours

 

[Nutcracker]

Have you tried looking at Stonechat song and call. Makes a sound like stones clacking together. I think you get them in USA. Although my definition of robin sized will be different to yours

Sorry, no Stonechats in the USA

 

[Bob Philpott]

Sorry, no Stonechats in the USA

Yes, you are right. I got confused because it does appear in some North American field guides but only because it is a rarity in Alaska.

 

[pianoman]

Almost like the sound you make when you open your mouth and hit your cheeks.Thanks!

That kind of sound does seem like it might come from a game bird of some sort.

Edit - though if all black and American Robin sized, then I've heard moody crows make sounds like that occasionally

 

[Peter C.]

I don't get any sound at all when I "open my mouth and hit my cheek," but clack is a very good approximation of the contact call of the Common Grackle. You hear it all the time from flocks, especially when they are all flying up off the ground.

 

[pianoman]

(opens mouth and hits cheek) Yep, got a quiet "Cork out of bottle" sound Reminding me of a Capercaillie lekking sound