Bird song ID

JohnC6

JohnC6

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I thought I'd post this but I'm not optimistic that I'll get to know what this bird is until I see it but any suggestions other than the usual song birds would be appreciated then I can Google for the call which I've done several times already to no avail.

This morning I heard a song bird call I haven't heard before. I even called my wife into the back garden to listen to it so it obviously struck me as something different to the norm. At 9.15pm it was in the tall heavily-foliaged trees across the road at the front. I've been out with bins but there's too much foliage. It continued to 'sing' whilst pigeons were near it but a crow flew in near it and it stopped until the crow left after a few minutes. So..how to describe it ? It has a wide range of calls and not 'delicate ones' like the warbler but solid like the blackbird.

It has one call that's very similar to a Chiff-Chaff . It has another consisting of 7 single notes. It has a short warble. It has another that sounds like a bird being attacked. Another is that of a Golden eagle but whereas with the eagle the end note ..a short note..goes down this one goes up.... like a curlew but more 'solid' .It has a warble too. Another makes 4 calls. It would be at home in a rainforest in South America.

Maybe it will hang around here and I'll get more opportunities to see if I can catch sight of it.
 
I have this as an app on my Android phone...................
BirdNET – The easiest way to identify birds by sound. (cornell.edu)

I discovered that they had developed it as I use Merlin their bird ID app. AFAIK they are planning (maybe already have) to make it part of Merlin but so far only for USA.

I highly recommend both apps.

PS they are on the Apple Store as well as the Google Play store,
 
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Agree about the BirdNet app. It doesn't always manage to identify things but that could be due to the ambient sound. I've had it identify wren, goldfinch, blackbird, blackcap, willow warbler, collard dove correctly, and it is free.

Dave
 
troutfisher said:
This might be of interest
Bird Song Identifier | Audio of Garden Bird Calls - The RSPB

It could be a bird mimicing other songs/sounds i heard one the other day and I thought at first it was an alarm going off but it was not loud enough
Click to expand...

Thanks, Chris but I went through that one. I'm familair with most of them anyway but it's nothing like any of them which are the regulars.

It did occur to me that it was maybe mimicing other birds but thought that the only ones that did that were from the Amazon Rainforersts or North America..eg the mocking bird.(hence the name) and the Lyrebird (SE Australia and southern Tasmania)

It's not shown today so I'll probably never know what it was.
 
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John, is a starling possible? They are incredible mimics, I didn't quite realise how good they are untill a local resident started to mimic a vixen call little owl kestrel. I was really taken with how good it was and with sounds I'd never heard from a starling before. I was also watching him ,do it.

Buddy I can't give you any form of certainty it just seems to add up after reading your post Not easy though IDing a bird without hearing a sound one's self

Always something to learn isn't there mate :)

stu
 
Blackbirds also mimic other sounds. Some years ago, we had one that "sang" the first bar or so of "All Things Bright And Beautiful"!
 
It may have been an escaped pet.

Many years ago, a relative had a Mynah bird and it would mimic the sounds of all the birds in his garden.

It also mimicked other things; the phone, the doorbell and dog whistle as well as people's voices. It also had an impressive vocabulary of profanities.
 
Stuart Philpott said:
John, is a starling possible? They are incredible mimics, I didn't quite realise how good they are untill a local resident started to mimic a vixen call little owl kestrel. I was really taken with how good it was and with sounds I'd never heard from a starling before. I was also watching him ,do it.

Buddy I can't give you any form of certainty it just seems to add up after reading your post Not easy though IDing a bird without hearing a sound one's self

Always something to learn isn't there mate :)

stu
Click to expand...

I just read about the starling yesterday, Stu and ,as you say,an excellent mimic but as they generally fly round in gangs, they fly onto our back lawn from time to tim, this one was a loner. It still hasn't returned.
 
Nod said:
Blackbirds also mimic other sounds. Some years ago, we had one that "sang" the first bar or so of "All Things Bright And Beautiful"!
Click to expand...

I love to hear a Blackbird. We have two pairs that fly in and out of the back garden on a daily basis.. Not sure if it could have been one of them, though.I've never heard it before and we've had Blackbirds nesting here and going onto the pond cascades for a drink and a wash & brush up. The range of call was amazing.If someone had walked by whilst I was out at the front ( it was in the trees across the road in the afternoon,the back garden in the morning) I'd have asked them to stop and listen but no-one walked by.
 
Sky said:
It may have been an escaped pet.

Many years ago, a relative had a Mynah bird and it would mimic the sounds of all the birds in his garden.

It also mimicked other things; the phone, the doorbell and dog whistle as well as people's voices. It also had an impressive vocabulary of profanities.
Click to expand...

I think that's got to be the favourite,Trevor. I've heard that there are 4 Ring-necked Parakeets in the grounds of a church in Matson, Gloucester. Not far from me.

..and this but it was 2017 but it shows they do escape. https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/you-missing-macaw-fears-welfare-3211892
 
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Another possibility is a jay. A couple of years ago I heard one in the middle of the day do a superb version of a tawny owl.

However, given the range of sounds you have heard, John I think an escaped bird is quite possible. If you have a local Facebook group an escaped pet might be listed there.

It is unlikely to be a ring necked parakeet. We have lots around here and they are frequently on the feeders in the garden. They are very vocal but the only sound I have heard from them is a raucous squawk.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
Another possibility is a jay. A couple of years ago I heard one in the middle of the day do a superb version of a tawny owl.

However, given the range of sounds you have heard, John I think an escaped bird is quite possible. If you have a local Facebook group an escaped pet might be listed there.

It is unlikely to be a ring necked parakeet. We have lots around here and they are frequently on the feeders in the garden. They are very vocal but the only sound I have heard from them is a raucous squawk.

Dave
Click to expand...
Cheers, Dave. I'll ask my wife to get onto FB as I don't have an account.
 
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