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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Nocturnal call Dec. 2017 Limousin, France (1 Viewer)

Don't think it can be a starling Nutty - we haven't had them nearby for a few years now. (Weirdly when they did breed in a cavity in the wall of next doors barn they would never visit the garden or use the feeders or bird table - despite the constant availability of food and presence of loads of other birds - never could figure that out?)
 
We do have loads of Blackbirds and every night's recordings end with their calls as they wake up. I can see the similarity but it doesn't sound right to me - not shrill enough or urgent enough. I must have deleted hundreds of their calls over the last few months - I'll see if I saved any tomorrow.
 
Interesting - the rhythm is similar but there's something about the quality of the call that doesn't sound right - also the sonograms show the Blackbird call to be a bit more complex.
 
Torchepot said:
also the sonograms show the Blackbird call to be a bit more complex.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I noticed that. Sometimes that's down to increasing contrast and definition with the software you're using. But if the info is not there, then it might be indeed something else. I was just trying to illustrate the type of call I had in mind when suggesting Blackbird.
 
The more I listen to it the more confused I get!

Ever since the subject of diurnal birds giving alarm calls at night was mooted a while back I've been keeping my ears open when I'm blundering around at night fiddling with various gadgets and also when walking the dog after dark every night. I've flushed a few birds and haven't heard a peep out of any of them. The only one that I know the identity of for certain was funnily enough a male Blackbird - as it flew right across the garden in the dark and stunned itself against one of the windows. I'm not saying that diurnal birds don't give alarm calls at night - just relating that they often fly without calling.

Having said that, this one could well be an exception though ;)
 
My first impression was that it sounds just like a spooked Starling, the call they give when they're being chased by a predator for example. Could be wrong though.
 
RafaelMatias said:
Agreed, I noticed that. Sometimes that's down to increasing contrast and definition with the software you're using. But if the info is not there, then it might be indeed something else. I was just trying to illustrate the type of call I had in mind when suggesting Blackbird.
Click to expand...

I recorded a Blackbird alarm (in heavy rain) this morning from the same spot and processed it in the same way. Here's a comparison:-

View attachment Blackbird alarm v unknown.mp3

The spectrogram, though not very clear, shows a more complex structure than the unknown.

Blackbird alarm v mystery.jpg
 
jogresh said:
My first impression was that it sounds just like a spooked Starling, the call they give when they're being chased by a predator for example. Could be wrong though.
Click to expand...

Hmm - two votes for Starling now. I don't have a recording of a Starling call to compare but, although it's possible, it seems like a long shot to me.

We've not had a single Starling in the garden for something like 7 years. We do see them at this time of year but in big flocks either feeding on farmland or heading off to roost together somewhere. From memory they make quite a racket at their roosts before settling down, don't they?

So it seems it would have to be a single bird roosting here (in a hedge?) and being disturbed at 5 in the morning.

Having said all that I still don't know what it is ;)
 
Just noticed that the call sounds quite a bit different when I listen to it on my tablet versus the desktop using headphones.

Much tinnier and squeaky sounding.
 
Also my thought was Common Starling. I think this recording fits quite well, no?: http://www.xeno-canto.org/378941

I do a lot of nocturnal recordings and it is occasionally happening that birds (e.g. Blackbirds, Robins) are spooked in the middle of the night and give alarm calls...
 
I agree they look close - though I did edit the Starling recording to only leave the components that resemble the unknown and tried to match the phrasing which may be a bit deceptive.

There's a difference in pitch and tone but I don't know how significant that is.


If this is a Starling then in many ways it's more surprising than previous recordings of Night Heron and Barn Owl here. Chatting to my wife (who probably spends more time than me watching the birds in the garden!) - she can't remember seeing a single one within a mile or so of the house for many years. I walk from the house two or three times a day and always take my bins with me and I just never see them. The habitat seems so unlikely for a winter roost too - an isolated garden on top of an exposed ridge bordered by Oak woodland.
I think it's safe to say that it would be very hard to overlook a regular roost near to the house - so for me the only options are that this would have to be not just a random bird but also a random bird that gets disturbed at 5 o'clock during the night, or - that it's something else.
 
Whilst not definitive the winter atlas may help to explain why they're seen so infrequently around here at this time of year.


http://www.atlas-ornitho.fr/index.php?m_id=1415&y=-1&speciesFilter=&frmSpecies=491&frmDisplay


We're in the middle of the big area with no winter records. If you click on "Carte regionale" it shows the departmental boundaries - interestingly there are hardly any for the whole of Limousin.

The Limousin atlas (I don't have a link unfortunately) shows a different picture however, with scattered winter records over much of Haute-Vienne but much fewer in Creuse (where we are). I've never thought about it before really but I imagine this may be related to altitude and ground temperature - we're on the edge of the Massif Central and experience ground frosts through much of the winter. This has been a particularly cold December and we've already been snowed in for a couple of days! I'll check, but I believe it was below zero on the night of the recording. (It's minus 1 tonight).
 
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