Author Topic: What bird can I hear?  (Read 3430 times)

Basil

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What bird can I hear?
« on: 16 April, 2011, 02:54:40 pm »
I keep hearing something that sounds a bit like a toned down peacock.
No internoodle here so I can't check song on line.
Any ideas?
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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #1 on: 16 April, 2011, 02:58:09 pm »
Lapwing.

Tourist Tony

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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #2 on: 16 April, 2011, 03:14:56 pm »
I keep hearing something that sounds a bit like a toned down peacock.
No internoodle here so I can't check song on line.
Any ideas?
More details....

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #3 on: 16 April, 2011, 03:23:04 pm »
Given that you live in the middle of Birmingham, I reckon it's a car alarm.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Basil

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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #4 on: 16 April, 2011, 03:31:53 pm »
Not much more to add I'm afraid.
Rural SW Wales.
Peacock like call but shorter and not as loud. 
Not heard it here before.
There were actual peacocks near here but they disappeared over 2 years ago.
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Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #5 on: 16 April, 2011, 03:33:19 pm »
Buzzards?
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Tourist Tony

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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #6 on: 16 April, 2011, 03:36:07 pm »
One suggestion would be a carrion crow. They have quite a high-pitched wail at times, a 'Kaa, Kaa' sound, and when they deliver it is usually done with a body posture that looks as if they are about to puke. Often done in paired notes, quite often as singles. What sort of place are they calling from?

Basil

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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #7 on: 16 April, 2011, 03:48:36 pm »
Open hillside field next to woodland.
Can hear normal crow noises.  Is this another sound they make?
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Tourist Tony

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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #8 on: 16 April, 2011, 05:35:09 pm »
Sometimes it can sound like a baby crying. Aussie ravens really do sound like that.

Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #9 on: 16 April, 2011, 10:23:08 pm »
Might it be a jay? They have more calls than the typical "screech", some of which are very like the aggressive clatter of magpies. We have both birds in this part of Brum, but the jays use a more limited range of calls/songs(?) than in the Warwickshire lanes. However I haven't heard anything that is reminiscent of a peacock in either area.

CountrySickness

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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #10 on: 17 April, 2011, 08:25:02 am »
It's probably a starling doing an impression of a peacock

Tourist Tony

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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #11 on: 17 April, 2011, 08:39:18 am »
Good thought. One thing about starling mimicry is that they mimic what they hear rather than the actual sound. By that, I mean that if the sound they mimic is made fainter by distance, then their rendition is fainter.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #12 on: 17 April, 2011, 08:53:55 am »
The only jay I've ever seen was in a bush on Edgbaston Park Road in Birmingham.  They're quite exotic-looking.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #13 on: 17 April, 2011, 11:52:36 pm »
Basil, it occurs to me that it might be curlews.  It's the right time of year and in addition to their famous liquid burbling, which Rochdale starlings have got off to a t, they also have a one note call which they repeat.  It is somewhat sharper than a buzzard's mew, which tends to be a bit faint anyway.

Tourist Tony

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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #14 on: 18 April, 2011, 12:18:27 pm »
Almost a rising bubbling sound, occasionally breaking into "coo-WEE"

Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #15 on: 18 April, 2011, 12:26:24 pm »
Good thought. One thing about starling mimicry is that they mimic what they hear rather than the actual sound. By that, I mean that if the sound they mimic is made fainter by distance, then their rendition is fainter.

Many years ago we stayed at the Gatliff Hostel on South Uist. The guardian told us the Starlings had started their Corncrake imitation earlier than usual, as they'd heard a documentary on Radio 4. We saw a Corncrake later that evening in the patch of Flag Irises outside the front door.

The only jay I've ever seen was in a bush on Edgbaston Park Road in Birmingham.  They're quite exotic-looking.

I saw a pair of them this morning, while having my breakfast in bed. The male was feeding the female with stuff from the bird-table in a courtship ritual.

Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #16 on: 18 April, 2011, 10:18:10 pm »
Almost a rising bubbling sound, occasionally breaking into "coo-WEE"

TT, yes, that is the call or song that people instantly recognise but they have another vocalisation, which is more like a "caw".

Tourist Tony

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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #17 on: 18 April, 2011, 10:21:19 pm »
Well, at least we know it isn't a 'seven-whistler'!

[whimbrel]

Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #18 on: 19 April, 2011, 10:57:41 pm »
Well, at least we know it isn't a 'seven-whistler'!

[whimbrel]

I've never knowingly heard whim brel (your honour)  but I know several songs by his Belgian brother Jacques....

Tourist Tony

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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #19 on: 19 April, 2011, 11:01:46 pm »
 ;D
Seen many of them, mostly on the Normandy and Picardy coastline, and also at Het Zwin near Knokkeheist.

Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #20 on: 22 April, 2011, 09:07:07 pm »
Don't know if Basil's still looking but another possibility is an oyster-catcher.  These are often miles away from the sea.  I saw one yesterday near Settle.

ravenbait

Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #21 on: 22 April, 2011, 09:13:40 pm »
Can't imagine anything one of the corvidae doing sounding like a peacock, unless it was for the lulz.

Sam

Julian

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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #22 on: 23 April, 2011, 02:53:47 pm »
What could I hear this morning on the FNRttC?  It was about fifty times louder than all the other birds, and sounded like the first second and a half of a car alarm. 

Tourist Tony

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Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #23 on: 23 April, 2011, 09:43:49 pm »
What could I hear this morning on the FNRttC?  It was about fifty times louder than all the other birds, and sounded like the first second and a half of a car alarm. 


Could it be...?
The RSPB: Cetti's warbler

Re: What bird can I hear?
« Reply #24 on: 26 April, 2011, 02:09:28 pm »
When we stopped near West Chiltington, just after the sun had risen behind us, there was an extraordinary mix of birdsong including a lark (which I spotted plummeting from the skies down to the filed on our right) and a nightingale in the foliage to our left.  All in danger of being swamped by great tits, robins and other such.