Graybeard, your story sounds eerily similar to an experience I had last year.
My wife and I built a home in the middle of 135 acres of prime hunting land, which belongs to her parents. Sometime in the fall of last year, I began hearing a creature in the evenings and late at night which puzzled me. Like you said, it had sort of a cat-like whine, but sometimes it had sort of a screech to it. At times, it almost sounded humanesque.
Now, I grew up in the boondocks of Louisiana and I've been an avid outdoorsman all of my walking years. I've heard all manner of owl hoots, screeches, cackles and cadences as well as coyote sounds, deer sounds, bobcat screams, you name it...I've heard it. Or so I thought.
But this sound absolutely baffled me. I assumed it must be some sort of strange owl only because it moved around so quickly. Sometimes it would sound like it was just outside the window, but I never could see it. It really baffled me because it had such an eerie sound.
I learned to recreate the sound by inhaling forcefully while making a weird whine/screech sound. The sound isn't flat, it sort of has a rounded rise and fall to it. It didn't take long to learn, and soon I was mimicking the creature when it called. And, it would respond to my calls as well.
Finally, one night I hit a lucky break. I had been hearing the call all night, but I had been too busy building cabinets to venture out and respond. That was until my bladder stepped in and said "Go pee, young man!"
So I did. Clutching my biggest mag light, I walked into the darkness without actually turning it on. When I got to the very back of our yard, I began relieving myself. To my surprise, I heard the sound just above and in front of me. Raising my mag light in the general direction of the sound, I snapped the power switch on.
The bright light of the mag light immediately picked up a pair of yellow eyes in the top of a dead tree at the back of our yard. Slowly, I adjusted the beam of the light until I could make out the body of an odd looking owl that sat perched in the top of that old tree. Unlike most owls I'd seen which appeared to be more stocky and round in appearance, this one was smaller, but of a more long and slim build.
The bird glared back at me through the beam of the flashlight, its eyes glowing brightly. For some reason, I wavered and the beam of light moved away from bird for just a second. When I turned the beam back, the bird was gone.
I believe that happened to be about the last time I heard that sound. As far as I know, that bird has not returned to visit. To this day, I am not sure what kind of owl that was, but I know I have never heard anything like it in my life.
I've had owls scare the daylights out of me with their sudden screeches, howls, cackles and other odd and assorted sounds, but I maintain that none of them sounded like this bird. I even wondered if perhaps it had some sort of damage to its vocal cords.
I hope it returns. It would be neat to hear it again.
Perhaps what I heard and finally saw is the same type of creature that you experienced.
