What bird makes this call? I don't have a photo because I've never seen it but I do have an audio recording of it's strange call.
I've searched bird call recordings for weeks and haven't found anything like this. I can hear the bird most every evening and during the night in May and June 2010. First noticed the call after the boy scouts camped in our field and one of the leaders stayed awake all night hearing this strange sound seemingly comming from all around them. It is hard to determine where the sound is coming from because it has a Doppler effect. I'd describe it as a fast whoo-whoo-whoo sound that changes in pitch. Download and play the attached two wav files and see if you recognize it. The closest bird call is the common loon but it isn't a loon. Sorry for the frogs in the background.
I live in Washington State near a creek and tall grass. There are plenty of red-winged black birds, killdeer, robins, Canadian geese, cliff and barn swallows here too.