We have a family of seven of the damn things near us. 9:30 each night they start up screeching for a good 30mins. The they start again at 4:30 for half an hour (it was 4 but it's getting darker in the am now). Plus they kill the other chicks. Not a myth.... we've seen them completely decimate the nests of other birds. The smaller birds have got a hard enough life coping with things like habitat, domestic cats, etc....