HOMEPAGE

CATALOGUE

BIOACOUSTICA

SITE TECH

BIRD SONG

Species styles:-

** Song - simple stereotype: each burst of song (strophe) conforms to the same pattern.

Yellowhammer

Male song (61k). 2 types in this example.

Great tit : Examples of several song-types of the many heard from this species.

Song 1 (27k).
Song 2 (7k).
Song 3 (28k).
Song 4 (21k).
Song 5 (11k).

** Song - complex stereotype: like those above, each burst of song is more or less identical, though longer and more complex than the previous examples.

Starling

Song (70k). Part of the song of the bird on the Wildsong homepage, pictured on the chimney-pot where the recording was made.

Mimicry 1 (13k). Recorded from a bird on the same perch (not necessarily the same bird) as previous. Whistles copying children's playtime screams from the schoolyard around 100m away. Compare this sound with the end phrase of the blackbird song 2 below.

Mimicry elaborations (23k). Several birds playing around with the same themes. (And a house sparrow chirping loudly).

** Song - intermediate: each burst of song varies, but conforms to a similar over-all pattern and is made up from a set repertoire of phrases.

Blackbird

Song 1 (27k). 2 strophes from a suburban virtuoso.

Song 2 (15k). Another strophe from the same bird with a superb end phrase; this may be influenced by the starling mimicry above, or the same source, since the bird was from the same garden area. With collared dove song in the background. Take a look at some sonograms of this song with slowed down versions of the recording to hear the detail more clearly.

Song 3 (37k). Several strophes typical of a woodland blackbird.

Nightingale

Male song (75k)St. Recorded at around 2am at the beginning of June, with the calls of a pair of tawny owls in the background.

** Song - varied: bursts of song vary in length and often in the over-all pattern, though elements and phrases may be repeated in sequence. Is this real improvisation ?

Skylark

Male song (125k). From a bird perched in mist on a New Forest heath. Follow this link for an analysis of a short section of this song, with sonogram and slowed down versions.

Sedge warbler

Male song (69k). Sharp grooves from the old jazzer of any patch of rank vegetation.

Marsh Warbler

Male song (160k). A close relative of the sedge warbler with a rather similar song style. One of Europe's most exciting singers and a very fine mimic. This bird turned up to sing in a patch of willow herb and nettles on the Northumberland coast at the end of May - recorded around 6am on the 1st of June. Unfortunately the limited bandwidth of the Real Audio takes away alot of the vitality of the bird's sound and phrasing; still, maybe it'll wet your appetite to hear the real thing.

Siskin

Male song (79k). Early season song from a perched bird, with plenty of mimicry.

Garden warbler

A longish strophe (21k) (though occasionally an excited bird will sustain a continuous flow for over a minute). And a shorter strophe from the same bird short strophe (8k).

Willow warbler

Male song (13k) - just a single strophe.

Wood warbler

Male song (46k). Song made up of a passionate shivering trill (the bird's specific name sibilatrix sums it up) occasionally interspersed with a repeated, sad 'tyoo' note. Don't confuse it with the chaffinch singing nearby.

Dipper

Male song (48k). Not often thought of as a song bird, the dipper's a close relative of the wren. Song is heard all through the winter.

** Song - non-passerines

Bittern

Male song (23k) from Lancashire at around 3am in late May. Males sing at any time through the day or night , though output is probably highest between 3 and 5 am. Each song consists of a sequence like this and is repeated at intervals of about a minute.

Black grouse

Male song (57k) at the lek. Leks are gatherings of males at traditional sites; they take up stances and compete to put on the finest display - only occasionally do fights break out. Females are attracted and move through the lek sizing up the males before allowing their choice to mate with them.

Water Rail

Several birds courting (55k). As these birds live in dense wetland vegetation, they're more often heard than seen. This vocal performance is also known as sharming.

Curlew

Male song (80k)St. With skylarks singing. The 'weep' notes gradually build up into an ecstatic bubbling trill. Most species from the various wader families are fairly vocal and often surprisingly musical (to human ears).

Nightjar

Male song (32k). Usually heard in the twilight and at night. Recently described described by a local Northumbrian farmer as sounding like a Harley-Davidson, no doubt the bird's crepuscular singing has contributed to its mystique and superstitious associations (its scientific name means goatsucker).

OTHER ANIMALS

Frequently-heard calls of some other British wildlife:-

Common frog: Single male (40k)

Common toad: Calls

Roe deer: Calls (30k) from an individual.

PLACES

(Stereo, unless indicated.)

East Anglia (75k): after midnight in spring on the brecklands with nightingale and tawny owls. (From the album Birdsong in Britain.)

The Cheviot Hills (80k): on a morning in April with skylarks and a curlew singing. Sadly the number of curlew in these hills (the symbol of the Northumberland National Park) is slowly declining as the boggy patches continue to be drained and the density of sheep stocks increases. (From the album 'A'Mhoine - moorland soundscapes'.)

A Northumberland harbour (94k): with a gathering of eider ducks.

A rocky headland (108k) on the Borders coast with kittywakes, herring gull and guillemots. (From the album 'Thalassa - sea-shore soundscapes'.)

The Hebrides (64k): around midnight on a balmy night in early July among the corncrakes - once familiar throughout Britain.

Eastern France (36k): Crickets and quail in the flood plain of the Doubs river (mono).

The Camargue (152k): late evening in May with egrets (little egrets and cattle egrets in the colony) and tree frogs.

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Comments:- geoff@wildsong.demon.co.uk

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