Oooooh, love to hear the song dogs at night! Along with the Milky Way hanging in an inky black sky, it's part of the spiritual recharge I get when camping.
I hear critters at night, lying in my bed in sub-rural New Jersey. More often, my dogs hear something and freak out, barking like crazy until I let them out.
When I hear something, it's usually something interesting, a barred owl or other large bird, or sometimes foxes or coyotes. The foxes make a really distinctive sound, confirmed by occasional fox sightings in the area. The coyotes make an even more distinctive sound, which, when I hear it, I will usually hear it several nights in a row; and then I don't hear it again for a while. I haven't heard the coyotes in months.
So the funny thing is: when I hear foxes or coyotes, the dogs just sleep through it (or pretend to). Not interested in going out when there's coyotes howling.
Roadkill deer are common, and they are usually stripped to the skeleton within a couple days; so I know there's hungry critters around cleaning up, probably coyotes. But I've never seen a coyote.