Why Hollywood loves this creepy bird call

Once you hear it, you can’t unhear it. Sorry!

If you’ve seen any remotely creepy movie, you’ve heard a loon wail: that mournful, nearly human ooo-ooo-oooo. It pops up whenever a movie needs to convey melancholy or trepidation, often accompanied by a full moon or some fog. But for the most part, loons have no business being in the background of those scenes.

With the help of some internet birders, we took a deep dive (pun intended) into the world of loons to explain how Hollywood misuses this bird call — and why the wail is so haunting in the first place.

[Vox]

Thanks for watching! As some of you have mentioned--the loon's isn't the only bird call that Hollywood gets wrong. That sound you hear when a bald eagle is on screen? That's a red-tailed hawk. And kookaburras are another bird whose call is used in habitats and places the kookaburra doesn't belong.

Notice any others? Let us know in the comments below 👇

[JanelleC]

It may be used in creepy scenes, but for anyone who grew up in an area where loons were common, it’s a calming, peaceful sound.

[Baddogg]

I’ve always thought of it as the bird equivalent to a wolf’s howl. It’s the sound in movies that resembles “you’re in the middle of nowhere” or at peace with your far off “nature surroundings”. I do recall hearing the other calls in some movies and documentaries as well. Overall pretty interesting bird.

[terramater]

The loon call is definitely a sound you feel with your whole body.

[BlackGryphn]

I had the honor of voicing this creepy bird in Finding Dory! Andrew Stanton didn’t want me to sound anything like a loon because of how haunting an actual loon sounds, so Becky was modeled after a chicken instead.

[b_]

as a canadian, the loon’s call instantly takes me back to camping as a child and hearing the bird’s call float across the lake’s water just after sunset. it’s not really creepy; eerie, for sure, but quite lovely.

[Neceros]

Not only is it the same bird call... it's the same clip. Same bird. Most of those iconic sounds in Hollywood are old sounds on CDs, just banks of sound bites. Fascinating to listen through them all.

[NickFerry]

born and raised around loons (in more ways than one) - loon howles are extremely relaxing - camping by the lake is some of the best sleep you'll ever get!

[dwrobotics]

It’s not just the notes that make it moody - you completely brushed over the way that large ponds and woodland make the sound reverberate and echo - creating an instant sense of a big empty space devoid of people.

[smefour]

The classic Kookaburra call is heard in so many movies as well, particularly in jungle scenes where this bird never naturally lives

[Ithoughtthiswasamerica]

As a Canadian; you hear loon calls almost all the time in the summer near lakes, it’s always been a relaxing noise that compliments nature. I only ever see people get scared when they have no idea what creature the sound is coming from and they assume it’s a wolf howling.

[ilya.b]

So, basically, it is the bird equivalent of Wilhelm scream.

[joshygoodboy]

As someone who grew up in Minnesota where there's a pair of loons on almost every lake. The loon wail is one of the most comforting nature sounds I can think of. Makes me think of a glass calm summer lake where there aren't even any boats out on the water. When they shared that the wail is the "where is everybody call?" that totally made sense. The loon wail is the psychological equivalent of a lake yawning to me. It's uh-aahhhh-uh.

[ubberJakerz]

As a Canadian, I can never understand why people find the sound creepy. I can only associate it with camping, fishing, hiking, hunting etc. Nothing but good times.

[CharlesFreck]

It just sounds more like a wolf then a wolf. In that, it sounds like the phonetic wolf sound we learn as children (awoo). Actual wolf calls sound closer to emergency sirens, especially at distance, and close up they're way more breathy then you'd imagine. Wolf calls are terrifying still, but they aren't as immediately recognisable. In fact, using a wolf call might sound 'cheap'. The loon just sounds a lot closer to a wolf in our mind, but it isn't 'threatening' it's haunting, it's beautiful. It suggests the unknown, the things that dwell deep in forests and jungles. It plays on our primal fears. Additionally, using the same sound to evoke that emotion is good film making. 99% of people don't care about audio outside of it has to sound nice. Using the same audio for the same reason across filmography let's the audio department evoke emotions quickly and effectively, by drawing on people's experience with other films. It creates an audio canon, an idea that always represents the same thing.

[PaulGuy]

As a Minnesotan, loon calls are just the sound of being at the lake.

[ncparvu]

am I the only one who thinks it's effective because it resembles the sound made by wolves and sends you thinking about isolation and loneliness?

[SeanMather]

Growing up in the loon’s natural range, hearing that was a daily part of life at the cottage. It definitely does make me feel like I’m in nature when I hear it.

[YourCanadianGuide]

Lots of people mistake the loon call for a wolf or coyote howl when they go out in the woods for the first time. I think that's why Hollywood puts the call in, like in Prisoner of Azkaban where there is a full moon.

[Animekeke]

Humans hearing a loon’s wail: so sad,
such melancholy, so lonely
Other Loons hearing a loon’s wail: “EY WHERE Y’ALL AT?”