@Adirondackwannabe Nah, that’s a cowbell. Here’s some fun background trivia about the cowbell in that song.
“The song features the prominent use of the cowbell percussion instrument. The song was originally recorded without a cowbell, but the sound was overdubbed into the song at a later stage. Bassist Joe Bouchard remembered a producer requesting his brother, drummer Albert Bouchard, to play the cowbell on the track. Joe Bouchard recalled: “Albert thought he was crazy. But he put all this tape around a cowbell and played it. It really pulled the track together.”[6] Producer David Lucas claims that the inclusion of the cowbell was his idea,[7] and guitarist Eric Bloom supports Lucas’s claim”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(Don't_Fear)_The_Reaper#Composition