Bird Call ID'? - Champs d'Aghorimze, Morocco (1 Viewer)

[Mehdi S]

Hi there!

So today, during peak fall migration, a lot of birds notably passerines were present near Massa river, at what eBird calls Champs d'Aghorimze.

One bird puzzled me though as I couldn't pin down any species on it by its call. The recording is sadly very short and only includes one call but I hope it can be enough to tell what it is. This bird, if I remember correctly made this same sound multiple times with some breaks between every call. That's the only call I've heard from it, which was notable. I've got very skulky views of it and it seemed to be darkish brown, Acro shaped but it could've been another bird in the same bush showing up so I wouldn't take the physical description for granted.

Thanks in advance,
Mehdi

 

[Deb Burhinus]

Sounds like Sylvia subalpina to me from what I can remember of my last trip to Sardinia - but a Sylvia anyway.

 

[RafaelMatias]

The raspy/scratchy tone says Acro to me. Sylvia subalpina actually sounds like a soft version of Blackcap, with no raspiness at all.

 

[Deb Burhinus]

The raspy/scratchy tone says Acro to me. Sylvia subalpina actually sounds like a soft version of Blackcap, with no raspiness at all.

That you describe as S subalpina sounds more like Western Subalpine to me - maybe it’s my ears, they are not as young as they used to be but Moltoni’s sounds very different to the harsh ‘tak’ of a Blackcap to me, its a longer phrase, more like a soft short flutety rattle. Are sounds really that subjective?

Moltoni’s

https://www.xeno-canto.org/471947

Having said that, I agree it could be a Eurasian Reed Warbler but the clip is really short!

 

[RafaelMatias]

Are sounds really that subjective?

Sorry, no... It's taxonomy playing tricks on me :eat: You guessed right that I was thinking of the Iberian taxon (iberiae)! :smoke:
In any case it sounds good for an Acro o

 

[Mehdi S]

Thank you both!

The bird I saw coming off the bush just after the recording could have very well been a reed warbler. It fits what I saw and they were all over the place yesterday but I couldn't pin down an ID' on them as we get both African reed and Eurasian reed warbler which are very hard to separate on the field without biometrics (as far as I know), especially in migration.

I do wonder though, the few African reed-type (multiple adults singing, a young seen and some carrying feces which would indicate the local species currently treated as African reed pending more taxonomic research) Acros I've heard before had more intricate and soft calls, mixing what I've heard in the recordings with other calls while these two individuals just did this one note all over again. Is this just a variation of their call or is it due to something else?

 

[Deb Burhinus]

I do wonder though, the few African reed-type (multiple adults singing, a young seen and some carrying feces which would indicate the local species currently treated as African reed pending more taxonomic research) Acros I've heard before had more intricate and soft calls, mixing what I've heard in the recordings with other calls while these two individuals just did this one note all over again. Is this just a variation of their call or is it due to something else?

I’m slightly confused here - are you saying the clip you posted was ‘this one note all over again’ from your African reed-types? Or are you referring to other recordings here?

So were you asking for a species or asking us to separate (as yet monotypic?) African and Eurasian Reed Warblers? (on a fraction of a call no less!) . And are you now saying two birds were calling the same note from the same bush? :smoke:

(I do agree Acros tend to vary their pitch and tone with their ‘ttek’ calls)

 

[Mehdi S]

I’m slightly confused here - are you saying the clip you posted was ‘this one note all over again’ from your African reed-types? Or are you referring to other recordings here?

So were you asking for a species or asking us to separate (as yet monotypic?) African and Eurasian Reed Warblers? (on a fraction of a call no less!) . And are you now saying two birds were calling the same note from the same bush? :smoke:

(I do agree Acros tend to vary their pitch and tone with their ‘ttek’ calls)

No, I personally do not myself which species called here, hence why I posted it here haha. The African-reed type note I made was for other birds I've heard calling elsewhere (i.e noting that in my very limited experience, they vary their calls)

I'm not asking you guys to separate such hard species on the basis of a very short call clip either, was just wondering if African/Eurasian reed warblers making repeated ttek calls as you call them is usual behaviour.

Sorry for the confusion, definitely should have worded it better!

 

[Deb Burhinus]

Sorry for the confusion, definitely should have worded it better!

No worries!

This is an Eurasian Reed Warbler - repetitive but to me a slightly looser sound than on the clip

https://www.xeno-canto.org/569240

Is there any chance the clip was compressed too much or got speeded up a bit in the processing? It sounds as if it’s running slightly fast (I don’t know much about mp3 files if that’s what it was!)

 

[Mehdi S]

No worries!

This is an Eurasian Reed Warbler - repetitive but to me a slightly looser sound than on the clip

https://www.xeno-canto.org/569240

Is there any chance the clip was compressed too much or got speeded up a bit in the processing? It sounds as if it’s running slightly fast (I don’t know much about mp3 files if that’s what it was!)

I cut the rest of the clip (which was 7 seconds in total originally) because nothing else was heard in it and then exported it as an mp3 on Audacity. That could explain it maybe?