Speaking of animal sounds, I love to visit nearby forest when does are mating. I like sitting on some old trunk at dusk and listen to noises they're doing. It's silent around you and then you hear some crazy noise from the bushes... :)
I've never been so frightened as when, aged about 10, I was alone in a wood at dusk. I was already jumping at shadows when from beneath an overhanging tree just a few yards away, I heard
Oh yes, when I once lived out on a farm there were foxes around and the first time I heard foxes fighting / mating / whatever I was scared to death! Sometimes hear a tawny owl where I am now. Driving on a country road this week I saw a buzzard sitting on the roadside, but this monster was twice its should-be size.
Meanwhile, the cold air block over Europe is pushing Waxwings westwards across the UK. They have reached this part of South Wales in the last week or so.
^the males and females are indistinguishable to me. Whether they can tell the difference, I don't know. I may be making this up, but I think you have a different version in the US. Yours are Cedar Waxwings, ours are Bohemian Waxwings (they lie in until mid-day, wear scarves and drink absinthe) Bombacilla garrulus, which means, "Silken-winged chatterbox" - although their calls are rather lovely, like the silvery jingling bells on Walking in a Winter Wonderland.
^ Very fashionable WW! Oh, and a little off subject..but if you wanna sleep Whisper, forget the tea and try absinthe. I tried the real stuff once..best and deepest sleep of my life! I felt so refreshed the next afternoon. Losing my car keys was almost worth it-
U R I E L What is done in the dark will always come to light