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Strangest noise you have ever heard a starling make?! (1 Viewer)

Jack Snipe

Jack Snipe

goose on the loose
We've heard lots of stories about how these birds can mimic all sorts of sounds like dripping water, car alarms, keys rattling and other bird calls, but from your own actual first hand experience, what is in your opinion the oddest sound you have heard them make (and that was definitely attributed to whichever bird was making the noise)?

I have to admit that I HAVE heard / seen one making the car alarm noise albeit very briefly, which I found quite amazing, but the strangest noise I ever heard one come up with was when one actually mimicked a noise rather like a cat sneezing (tzccchhhh! tzccchhhh!!).

Anyone else got their own recollections of bizarre starling noises?
 
There was one that lived near me that did quite a good impression of a ringing mobile phone. I'm sure it can't have heard one enough to mimic it, and it was probably a coincidence, but quite funny nonetheless.

And before anyone asks, no it wasn't the Nokia tune...
 
The last time I went to Gigrin Farm with Luke (BF member) there was one in the tree next to our hide doing a perfect and I mean perfect impression of a Red Kite calling.
 
Funny this thread should come up. On saturday in the centre of Belfast I looked up because I thought I heard a swift screaming past. This incidentally was right next to a building that they nest in during the summer. Saw nothing then there it was again the same sound coming from a Starling.
 
Came across a mint condition Helm Publication Guide today called Starlings And Mynas for the small sum of 8.99p.

The book is a comprehensive guide to all 114 members of the family- all species described and illustrated including distinctive subspecies.

There are brief accounts of the birds distribution, behaviour, ecology, breeding, moult and interactions with men and women including BF members!!!

It covers all aspects of ID, ecology and behaviour of the species. There are 32 colour plates and distribution maps.

Its a nice book and the colour plates are great.

Keep an eye out for this book at a Bargain book store near you.

Dean

Cheadle Birder :scribe:
 
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That's good to hear - I will keep an eye out for that one! :)

As for the above post about the Starling doing the screaming call of the Swift - I too have been fooled a few times in the past by similar thing happening. Especially when you think "it's too early for Swifts to arrive in early March!!" :)

Mind you, the small group of Starlings I saw today waddling around in the shopping precinct were immaculate - their new spring feathers looked amazing in the sunshine - the sheen and irridescent green/purples tipped with gold/white were so vivid and the beak so yellow - seems it's not often you get them looking so pristine!
 
I was working in the shed one day when i heard one burbling away to its self on the clothes line sounding like a car alarm in the distance. It took a second to realize the starling was doing it as it was in with all the other chater.But it seemed quite happy hopping around being a car alarm.
 
Not a particularly strange noise, but I thought I heard a willow warbler last week, turned out to be a starling. I remember the same thing happening 2 years ago too.

Laurence
 
Those of you of a certain age may remember the trim-phone - we had a Starling that lived nr us which did a perfect impersonation of ours. Very irritating when out in the garden - lost count of the number of times we ran into the house..... "hello, hello - anyone there??"

Doh!
 
Ruby said:
Those of you of a certain age may remember the trim-phone - we had a Starling that lived nr us which did a perfect impersonation of ours. Very irritating when out in the garden - lost count of the number of times we ran into the house..... "hello, hello - anyone there??"

Doh!
Click to expand...


Ha ha, yes, I remember reading quite frequently about them being able to do this! I also recall a friend of mine recounting something to me about hearing wolf whistles coming from a rooftop one day, and when he looked up he couldn't see anybody but there were two "blackbirds" (his words not mine, not my fault he's ignorant when it comes to discerning our native bird species). Probably the work of a starling too then?
 
Their natural song is bizarre enough for me. The ones that come to my backyard sound something like a computer modem shaking hands if you ask me.

I put up an American Kestrel nesting box, and what did I get? European Starlings!
 
Does anyone know if Common European Starlings have a "natural" song? I am curious to know if anyone can specifically pinpoint the exact composition of a starling's song....seems to me their repertoire is so complex and multi-faceted it's impossible to determine what their true song - if any - actually sounds like.
 
Ruby said:
Those of you of a certain age may remember the trim-phone - we had a Starling that lived nr us which did a perfect impersonation of ours. QUOTE]

Yes, we too had a "Trimphone" ringing from the tree-tops for a couple of summers in the early '80s . More recently, car alarms and two-tone emergency vehicle sirens!
Last summer, I spent quite some time looking (in vain!) for the "Green Woodpecker" I heard regularly around the house and would have liked to add to my 'Garden List' - only to find a Starling doing an excellent imitation "yaffle" call from the TV aerial.
Click to expand...
 
Ruby said:
Those of you of a certain age may remember the trim-phone - we had a Starling that lived nr us which did a perfect impersonation of ours. Very irritating when out in the garden - lost count of the number of times we ran into the house..... "hello, hello - anyone there??"

Doh!
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah, been there done that! When we lived in West Yorkshire, a few of the starlings also got the hang of the Curlew's call - very weird to hear a Curlew call in the dales in mid winter.
 
Jack Snipe said:
Ha ha, yes, I remember reading quite frequently about them being able to do this! I also recall a friend of mine recounting something to me about hearing wolf whistles coming from a rooftop one day, and when he looked up he couldn't see anybody but there were two "blackbirds" (his words not mine, not my fault he's ignorant when it comes to discerning our native bird species). Probably the work of a starling too then?
Click to expand...


Yes, I have heard them do the wolf-whistle too, quite frequently actually. Another call they do well is the Killdeer call. I noticed a gang of starlings actually began doing to the call a few days after the Killdeer began arriving, hinting that they probably had their memories refreshed by calling migrant Killdeer.
 
The wolf-whistle IS their natural song. It's not a mimic. They usually start with this whistle, then a sweet descending trill a bit like a Willow warbler, and then it gets into the chatter which is where the mimicry comes in.

mentioned this in other posts recently, but the most bizarre noise I've heard a starling make was, among the song chatter and clicking, to call out 'Jordan' three times in a perfect female human voice. This was when i was staying at my mum's. I asked her if she knew any Jordans, and she said that was the name of the neighbour's kid. The neighbour, apparently, has a habit of standing on her doorstep and calling for Jordan when his dinner is ready or it's time to come in from playing! That must be how the Starling heard it.

I've heard another bird giving an excited squeal from outside my window that sounded exactly like the young girl who lived in the upstairs flat, when she is also playing.
 
Poecile said:
The wolf-whistle IS their natural song. It's not a mimic. They usually start with this whistle, then a sweet descending trill a bit like a Willow warbler, and then it gets into the chatter which is where the mimicry comes in.

mentioned this in other posts recently, but the most bizarre noise I've heard a starling make was, among the song chatter and clicking, to call out 'Jordan' three times in a perfect female human voice. This was when i was staying at my mum's. I asked her if she knew any Jordans, and she said that was the name of the neighbour's kid. The neighbour, apparently, has a habit of standing on her doorstep and calling for Jordan when his dinner is ready or it's time to come in from playing! That must be how the Starling heard it.

I've heard another bird giving an excited squeal from outside my window that sounded exactly like the young girl who lived in the upstairs flat, when she is also playing.
Click to expand...

Wow!! That's quite remarkable to hear about that! It's amazing what they're capable of - almost as intelligent as parrots if they can imitate human speech so well too! They're probably doing it all the time but we're not even aware of it - you think you might be hearing a common noise like an alarm or a whistle or someone calling out when all the while it could just be the work of your average starling!
 
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