Western Sydney, evening/morning call, trilling/gurgling squawk

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thylacine666
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Western Sydney, evening/morning call, trilling/gurgling squawk

Hi all, 

We live in Southwestern Sydney and last year had a couple of weeks where in the late evening/night (8-11pm maybe) we'd hear a bird that was apparently in the low trees in a neighbour's backyard making this quite loud call - one long repeated note that I can describe as a squawk or screech and with a trilling/grinding/gurgling element to it (that's probably a terrible description, but it's definitely not a melodic song, just a medium length semi-high note with a slight downward inflection).

I'd never heard it before and assumed it was a pet but we don't really know them except to wave so didn't ask, and then it stopped after a while.

Last week though I heard the same call from the tall trees near my work (Camden), in the morning around 9am, and every time I'd leave the building to try to record it, it'd stop (then I'd go back in and hear it again a bit later grrr).

Then 2 nights ago I heard it near my in-laws in Grasmere (2 mins drive from work), and again it'd stop whenever I'd be ready to record it (if I hear it again I'll definitely record and repost here if necessary).

Hoping probably in vain that the above might just help identify whatever it is... I've tried to search on all kinds of 'Sydney', 'bird', 'night', 'call' to no avail. It's definitely not a koel or CBC (not their main known calls anyway), and it doesn't seem to be any owl of which I've heard sample calls. I wonder if it's maybe a baby so possibly even harder to track down but it's quite loud, enough to hear from 100m away, and whatever it was was quite happy to be in small low trees in a suburban backyard.

TIA

thylacine666
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Just heard it again at work and rushed outside to record it. Stripped the mp3 file from the hastily-recorded video, but you can hear it clearly on this.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vnvqrwacrbi7ijs/Bird.mp3?dl=0

Alex Rogers
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Hmmm. Are you sure it is a bird? Perhaps someone who knows more about bird calls can ID it, but I wonder if its maybe a frog. 

thylacine666
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Possible I suppose, but has always sounded more like a bird to me, and in some cases it's very high up in trees, and louder than most frog calls (those without the low bass that travels a long way).

Devster
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That is 100% a frog call not a bird. I don't know my frogs as well as my birds so can't be sure which species. I had a listen to my frog app and it does sound a bit like a Bleating Tree Frog

thylacine666
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Thanks so much, sure does sound like a BTF, there ya go!

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