Favorite bird song/call (1 Viewer)

Listening to displaying Lapwings is pretty special, too.

On a different note, while I don't have a least favourite bird song, I'm pretty thankful I don't have to wake-up to this!

Allen S. Moore said:

In Australia, hearing the song of the Australian magpie proves that I have at last made it there. Another common Aussie bird that not everyone likes is the pied currawong, but hearing their call always gives a thrill, whether it is in wild spots or over the streets of Sydney or Brisbane. Hearing the call of the eastern whipbird takes me back to the first time that I heard it, and it was the first Aussie bird that I was able to identify by call!

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I was out on the Tablelands today with BF member DomF and we saw and heard Pied Currawong (a lifer for Dom). you've also reminded me of when I was in WA with Larry Wheatland and Nicky in a place called Shothole Canyon and there was a Pied Butcherbird singing. Its song tends to carry and in this case was hugely amplified by the walls of the canyon, reminding me of what a fantastic songster it is.

Like trying to choose a favourite child ! ......

Wow! way too hard to just choose one ...... so here are some of a few of my favourite things:

*Whistling Kite, that drawn out Sseeeooooooooou .... about as close as we get to the awesome scream of the Red-tailed Hawk of US (and embarassingly ubiquitous movie fame, whose iconic call substitutes for just about anything with wings, or the merest hint of mysticism!)
*The multiples of 3 whistles of the displaying Little Eagle, accompanied by shimmying wings, and impressive rollercoaster loop-the-loops
*The poweful, don't mess with me, kek kek kek, of the Peregrine Falcon
*Black-shouldered Kite - particularly when there's a trio of just fledged youngun's filling the air with their wonky winged, screeching, mad, mad, mini Teradactyl, feed me calls
*The comical dog-like 'barking' competitions between a pair of Barking Owls
*Pied Butcherbird, particularly when doing soft mimmickry of Magpies and Currawongs among others
*The sublimly beautiful chatter of Welcome Swallows, and Red-rumped Parrots when going about nesting
*The pure notes of the Clamorous Reed Warbler
*The lovely 'follow me' chattering trilling of a flock of Yellow-rumped Thornbills
*The reassuringly, pleasantly nice, Alleeooopp, of the Peaceful Dove
*The indescribable, beautifully joyus chorus of a flock of wheeling Little Corellas
*The soulful, casually drawn out Wyaaaarrrrrrk, of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, lazily traversing vast valleys
*The beautifully mournful, and plaintive, solitary, descending whistles of the male King Parrot
*The sharp 'whip-crack' of the Eastern Whipbird (two of which are thinking of taking up residence in my garden - pays not to mow for 15 years and let a jungle evolve!)
*Superb Lyrebird ..... perhaps the most impressive of the lot, doing everything from melodic Gerygones, squabbling Rosellas, to the cheerful Grey Fantail, and the gorgeously beautiful Grey Shrike-Thrush (any bird with the scientific name, harmonica, must be good), and everything, and anything in between ....... I once listened to one for half an hour non-stop, after I'd worked out that there couldn't possibly be 50-odd different birds on the other side of the small bush that seperated us !!

I'm sure there's more, but I figure the folks of the world are jealous enough by now .....


Chosun :gh:

chowchilla said:

I was out on the Tablelands today with BF member DomF and we saw and heard Pied Currawong (a lifer for Dom). you've also reminded me of when I was in WA with Larry Wheatland and Nicky in a place called Shothole Canyon and there was a Pied Butcherbird singing. Its song tends to carry and in this case was hugely amplified by the walls of the canyon, reminding me of what a fantastic songster it is.

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Yes, it is like that with pied currawongs at O'Reilly's, which is on the edge of a bit of a hollow in the mountains. I once heard one singing in George Street in the Brisbane CBD, which is a bit like a canyon!

Chosun Juan said:

I'm sure there's more, but I figure the folks of the world are jealous enough by now .....


Chosun :gh:

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Sure am jealous, but Australia hasn't seen the last of me!

We've got quite different birds down here in Florida than some others, but also get migrators passing through that give us some diversity. Still, it tends to be a few of the 'locals' whose calls I love.

The Limpkin has always been a favorite - both for the sheer volume and carry - it can be heard from ridiculous distances...but for the plaintive, almost hollow sound it produces.

I love the call of the Common Loon, for much the same reason - there's something solitary, haunting, and yet soothing about it.

And I've always enjoyed hearing the Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks, when they gather together and after a nap begin to rile themselves for their late afternoon flight...a call that will continue as they fly, distinctive and clear.

Whimbrel - the ever present sound of the Icelandic summer
Leach's Petrel - a really strange scratchy cackle, very eerie when there are thousands of them in the dark cackling around you.
Snow Bunting - a lovely mournful song

I do love hearing Common Swifts, with their whistle - one of my favorite birds. I do also like the Curlew, and the Peregrine Falcon - especially when the chicks have left the nest, all that screeching (in a good way!) I'm privileged to have a disused quarry behind the house and a pair of Peregrine Falcons nest there every year.

For me it has to be the Tawny Owl, Cuckoo, Lapwing, Redshank, Golden Oriole, Hoopoe, and (not sure if it really counts) Common Snipe drumming.

The laughing call of the Green Woodpecker

Another vote for drumming Snipe.