Loud, shrill bird noises produced by mechanical/electronic device

[midageguy]

My two kids' sleep have been interrupted by very loud shrill noise that seem to imitate bird calls. Sometimes It takes place in the early hours in the morning at 2am, 4am and 5am. In the afternoons, the noises start at 3pm and 5pm. It does not seem to be produced by real birds. It seems to me that it comes from a mechanical or electronic device.

According to a colleague of mine who had been living in the north of Thailand, the device produces loud, shrill noises to scare birds in rice fields. Expensive devices can project loud, shrill noises up to 500 meters in radius. They can be battery-operated (think lithium batteries) or powered by an electrical source.

Farmers occasionally use them to scare birds away.

Does anyone know what the device is?

[foobar]

What kind of birds fly around eating rice between 2am-5am?

Odd times, nothing at dawn?

[Pragmatic]

What kind of birds fly around eating rice between 2am-5am?

Rice planting season hasn't got underway yet. Could be a Common Koel.

Around November of last year a longtime member of my neighbourhood bird community, the Common Koel (lovingly known for his stealth gliding through the trees), transformed his pleasant warbling into an incessant, high-pitched shrill. Right outside my bedroom window. All of my windows actually. And all day and all night.
Throughout the day and 11pm, 12pm, 1am, 2am, 3am (especially 3am)

http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/...ousy-buddhist/

[Pragmatic]

[Neverna]

Rice planting season hasn't got underway yet.

Depends where you live, I suppose. Where I am, the second crop is growing, and for a while after planting the rice seeds, farmers use something that sounds like a gun going off to scare the birds away. They go off at odd times too, even when it is dark - before dawn and after dusk. Must be automated.

[HuangLao]

What kind of birds fly around eating rice between 2am-5am?

The very special Thai see/fly-n-the-dark rice munching variety....

[Troy]

Are you sure it isn't a device to attract insects? We have similar in our district.

[headhunter]

that's what the call is,the male koel,long black tail,they call for a female,dusk and dawn,the females respond with a hooting sound,they look like a big brown pheasant.
we get them in our garden every day robbing nests and stealing dove chicks.the brown females are meat eaters.

[Pragmatic]

that's what the call is,the male koel,long black tail,they call for a female,dusk and dawn,the females respond with a hooting sound,they look like a big brown pheasant.

HH I think you're getting mixed up with the Greater Coucal?

[Pragmatic]

So definitely not the Asian Koel. According to the OP.

[headhunter]

HH I think you're getting mixed up with the Greater Coucal?

your spot on prag,i aways get the koel mixed up.but its the koel that's like a car alarm going off,usual you see many of them together.
the coucals nest in our gardens right at the top of those trees with spicky branches green leaves.

[Boon Mee]

that's what the call is,the male koel,long black tail,they call for a female,dusk and dawn,the females respond with a hooting sound,they look like a big brown pheasant.
we get them in our garden every day robbing nests and stealing dove chicks.the brown females are meat eaters.

Believe you're referring to the Nok-A-Pooh. Looks like a small chicken.

Different from the all black Koel which has an irritating call. The missus calls 'em a maniac bird because...they actually sound like some...maniac!

[headhunter]

Believe you're referring to the Nok-A-Pooh. Looks like a small chicken.

Different from the all black Koel which has an irritating call. The missus calls 'em a maniac bird because...they actually sound like some...maniac!

the 2 species are both having a party right now at the back of our house.
they must have heard of the WALES V IRELAND rugby match.

[jabir]

My two kids' sleep have been interrupted by very loud shrill noise that seem to imitate bird calls. Sometimes It takes place in the early hours in the morning at 2am, 4am and 5am. In the afternoons, the noises start at 3pm and 5pm. It does not seem to be produced by real birds. It seems to me that it comes from a mechanical or electronic device.

According to a colleague of mine who had been living in the north of Thailand, the device produces loud, shrill noises to scare birds in rice fields. Expensive devices can project loud, shrill noises up to 500 meters in radius. They can be battery-operated (think lithium batteries) or powered by an electrical source.

Farmers occasionally use them to scare birds away.

Does anyone know what the device is?

As pointed out it's usually dark at 2am; which birds might be scrumping rice so early in the day?

[uncle junior]

[Dillinger]

My two kids' sleep have been interrupted by very loud shrill noise that seem to imitate bird calls. Sometimes It takes place in the early hours in the morning at 2am, 4am and 5am

Are there any swiftlet barns up North for the farming of birds nest soup? They have loudspeakers that go off all night to attract birds.

[Looper]

^^That sounds like the Common Koel.

I thought it was native to Eastern Australia.

It is indeed very annoying because it makes that noise all through the night.

It is actually a species of cuckoo and the call is the gigantic overweight chick driving its diminutive and unrelated parents to bring it more grub.

[nidhogg]

Can be quite a problem all over Thailand. I get one near my house sometimes. Think the Thais call it a Gao Wow.

[Troy]

This is the sound played at night, through speakers, on the farm next to our house...

[Boon Mee]

There's a "Murder" or "Congress" of Crows that have moved into my neighborhood recently.

They don't bother me but some find their 'talking' incessantly a nuisance.

[Looper]

^^those mole crickest are weird.

I had a few in the garden at my last place.

Make a fair noise.

Hard to kill as they are underground so you can't spray them.

I dug some of them out of their burrow while digging the trench for my french drain.

why are they played through speakers?

[Troy]

^ Tasty little buggers ... sound attracts them to the fields and people dig them up by the bucket load to sell in the local market.

[Jack meoff]

It's the screech of the desperate intoxicated Brexit remoaner farang
A rare breed

[Neverna]

Think the Thais call it a Gao Wow.

Gaa waow นก กาเหว่า

[headhunter]

There's a "Murder" or "Congress" of Crows that have moved into my neighborhood recently.

They don't bother me but some find their 'talking' incessantly a nuisance.

that will be a BUNCH OF YABBA PISSED UP THAIS,very LOUD and murder's.