Cool link Phil. A bird I've never heard (or seen) - just a bit of the old dunnock in reverse to start up, maybe? - but the phwoee wheee is pretty distinctive - jeez these bird calls are hard to transcribe. Anyone take a shot?
Tim,
The main call, and it's that we're concerned with for finding these birds, is the "tseeeeiuuu" call.
Think Reed Bunt's "Tsiu", but markedly higher pitched, more protracted, and falling away at the end ("down-slurred" I believe is the term!)
It's a call that is gentle, subtle, "wispy",delicate. Almost as if it doesn't want to be heard at all. It has certain pitch qualities I'd also associate with HazelHen (who would believe a grouse could make such a high-range call?!)
But, you can almost guarantee if you hear it and are patient, and face in the direction of its source, you will ultimately see it.
They are so tiny! The males looking like mini Red-Backed Shrikes.
In Poland, in Spring, males are so preoccupied with gathering the Bullrush and other fluff, that they seem unaware of anybody nearby, and can be watched at very close quarters.
As the cock has to build several nests to intice a female, collecting the stuff becomes a driven obsession! I only ever saw one nest, in a museum, in Narew National Park. So elaborate a construction, it defies belief.
Oh! And Xeno-Canto is a valuable bookmark, and the best bird sound-file source available, for me anyway!
Hope that is of some help.
The sound file from Osowiec in Poland I'd say is pretty representative of what you would hear in terms of the usual Remiz call.
Poland is a very good place to see "RBS Mini!" But they like to share their habitat with Elk (Moose) and Beaver.
