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Common bird sounds of Ghana, and elsewhere (1 Viewer)

jurek

Well-known member
I hope to travel to Ghana (fingers crossed) and want to learn 10 or 25 most common bird sounds there. I am not good enough to learn sounds of all 400+ species, but it would be good to know the most common ones, to have a sort of a sound background, which could be 80% or 90% of birds I actually hear in the field. Not to be birding deaf. Thinking about it, I would wish such a thing for all places I visit. But even for Europe there is nothing.

And here is a problem. I have recordings of all the birds, but most are rare, others rarely call, or don't have conspicious calls (e.g. sunbirds), or sounds are useless for identification, e.g. ped crow. There is nothing like a common sounds. A sort of bird sound phrasebook, where you learn most common words.

So, what are 20 or 30 birds most commonly heard in Ghana?

And maybe somebody wants to fill a hole in the market, and produce sets of most common bird sounds for various countries? Even highlighting them on a general website, e.g. ebird or xeno-canto would be useful.
 
Well the obvious way is to get one or two reasonable to reports from cloud birders and target the birds they saw on the most days. Other than that I guess learn all the common pigeons and (if relevant time of year) key cisticolas

(But agree this would be a useful avibase/xeno canto feature. Iirc birds of East Africa highlights commonest species in ? forward)
 
It's a good point because birds most seen and most heard can be very different. A lot of the background noise in central european spring is Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, Robins, Nightingales, Whitethroats ... not the most prominent birds otherwise. And it's even worse in tropics, where there are super common sounds you almost never see the bird of. I'd pay good money for a worldwide collection of most important sounds of somewhere - and that's me, the guy who doesn't like to pay for anything :)
 
It's a good point because birds most seen and most heard can be very different. A lot of the background noise in central european spring is Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, Robins, Nightingales, Whitethroats ... not the most prominent birds otherwise. And it's even worse in tropics, where there are super common sounds you almost never see the bird of. I'd pay good money for a worldwide collection of most important sounds of somewhere - and that's me, the guy who doesn't like to pay for anything :)
Well another approach which might work is to look at frequency of recordings in xeno canto (or Macaulay) for the country by species.
 
I did it twice: in Ebird and xeno-canto. I got two lists. Both turned to have much more than 30 species, so next time I should be more selective. Both required a lot of mechanical clicking, but was quite fast (ca 20 min). However, I would still prefer to have such a thing prepared for me.

Ebird search – select browse location, country Ghana. Select bar chart. Click at every species which bar looks broad, and which is likely to be identified by call. For example: ducks and gulls – not, chicken, cuckoos and songbirds – yes. For these species, select open in a new tab. Then click on select all tabs and save them in a new folder.

A good way to check these species is to open two browser windows with duplicate ebird species. In one window, you see the species, in a second window, you play the call. Ebird, very handy, has calls linked to species. However, i am a bit worried whether ebird descriptions (the texts, which I was suspicious before) are reliable or back-written from the ebird recordings.
Xeno-canto search is considerably more difficult. Select advanced search, country Ghana. This opens 45 tabs. Click at them all to open in a new tab, moving to the last tab so you get 45 open tabs in systematic order. Start from the last bar, and click on every species which has at least 5 recordings. To reduce the species, one should select 7 or 10 recordings at the minimum. Then close the tab, progress to the previous one, back to the last tab. Save bookmarks.

These are birds which I got. Interestingly, many species are different between the two. I will be curious if somebody can comment how well they correspond to my goal: birds of Ghana most commonly heard in the field?

Brown-throated Wattle-eye
Black-winged Oriole
Senegal Parrot
Gray Kestrel
Common Bulbul
Northern Yellow White-eye
Brown Babbler
Chestnut-winged Starling
Splendid Starling
Purple Starling
African Thrush
Ussher's Flycatcher
African Forest-Flycatcher
Northern Black-Flycatcher
European Pied Flycatcher
Collared Sunbird
Little Green Sunbird
Pygmy Sunbird
Blue-throated Brown Sunbird
Olive Sunbird
Buff-throated Sunbird
Scarlet-chested Sunbird
Olive-bellied Sunbird
Splendid Sunbird
Copper Sunbird
Crested Malimbe
Black-necked Weaver
Vieillot's Weaver
Village Weaver
Bronze Mannikin
White-breasted Nigrita
Chestnut-breasted Nigrita
Gray-headed Nigrita
Black-and-white Mannikin
Orange-cheeked Waxbill
Bar-breasted Firefinch
Northern Gray-headed Sparrow
African Pied Wagtail
Sahel Bush Sparrow
Slender-billed Greenbul
Simple Greenbul
Honeyguide Greenbul
Little Greenbul
Lesser Striped Swallow
Ethiopian Swallow
Tawny-flanked Prinia
Yellow-browed Camaroptera
Green-backed Camaroptera
Green Hylia
Green Crombec
Western Nicator
Pied Crow
Northern Fiscal
Black-headed Paradise-Flycatcher
Fanti Drongo
Western Square-tailed Drongo
Glossy-backed Drongo
Yellow-crowned Gonolek
Black-crowned Tchagra
Northern Puffback
West African Wattle-eye
Red-fronted Parrot
Fire-bellied Woodpecker
African Gray Woodpecker
Bearded Barbet
Speckled Tinkerbird
Broad-billed Roller
White-throated Bee-eater
Woodland Kingfisher
African Pygmy Kingfisher
African Pied Hornbill
African Gray Hornbill
African Emerald Cuckoo
Klaas's Cuckoo
Dideric Cuckoo
Senegal Coucal
Western Plantain-eater
Yellow-billed Turaco
Red-eyed Dove
Vinaceous Dove
Laughing Dove
Black-billed Wood-Dove
Blue-spotted Wood-Dove
Tambourine Dove
Double-spurred Francolin
Stone Partridge
Stone Partridge (Ptilopachus petrosus)
Latham's Francolin (Peliperdix lathami)
White-throated Francolin (Peliperdix albogularis)
Spot-breasted Ibis (Bostrychia rara)
Congo Serpent Eagle (Circaetus spectabilis)
Long-tailed Hawk (Urotriorchis macrourus)
Red-chested Goshawk (Accipiter toussenelii)
White-spotted Flufftail (Sarothrura pulchra)
Nkulengu Rail (Himantornis haematopus)
Black-billed Wood Dove (Turtur abyssinicus)
Blue-spotted Wood Dove (Turtur afer)
Tambourine Dove (Turtur tympanistria)
Blue-headed Wood Dove (Turtur brehmeri)
Yellow-billed Turaco (Tauraco macrorhynchus)
Black-throated Coucal (Centropus leucogaster)
Diederik Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx caprius)
Klaas's Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaas)
African Emerald Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx cupreus)
Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo (Cercococcyx olivinus)
Black Cuckoo (Cuculus clamosus)
African Scops Owl (Otus senegalensis)
Brown Nightjar (Veles binotatus)
Black-shouldered Nightjar (Caprimulgus nigriscapularis)
Long-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus climacurus)
Narina Trogon (Apaloderma narina)
Chocolate-backed Kingfisher (Halcyon badia)
Blue-breasted Kingfisher (Halcyon malimbica)
White-bellied Kingfisher (Corythornis leucogaster)
African Pied Hornbill (Lophoceros fasciatus)
African Grey Hornbill (Lophoceros nasutus)
Red-billed Dwarf Hornbill (Lophoceros camurus)
Black Dwarf Hornbill (Horizocerus hartlaubi)
White-crested Hornbill (Horizocerus albocristatus)
Red-rumped Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus atroflavus)
Yellow-throated Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus subsulphureus)
Yellow-spotted Barbet (Buccanodon duchaillui)
Hairy-breasted Barbet (Tricholaema hirsuta)
Least Honeyguide (Indicator exilis)
African Piculet (Sasia africana)
Fire-bellied Woodpecker (Chloropicus pyrrhogaster)
Senegal Parrot (Poicephalus senegalus)
Rufous-sided Broadbill (Smithornis rufolateralis)
West African Wattle-eye (Platysteira hormophora)
Brown-throated Wattle-eye (Platysteira cyanea)
Red-cheeked Wattle-eye (Platysteira blissetti)
Sabine's Puffback (Dryoscopus sabini)
Lowland Sooty Boubou (Laniarius leucorhynchus)
Yellow-crowned Gonolek (Laniarius barbarus)
Red-billed Helmetshrike (Prionops caniceps)
Purple-throated Cuckooshrike (Campephaga quiscalina)
Blue Cuckooshrike (Cyanograucalus azureus)
Yellow-billed Shrike (Corvinella corvina)
Western Oriole (Oriolus brachyrynchus)
Black-winged Oriole (Oriolus nigripennis)
Shining Drongo (Dicrurus atripennis)
Fanti Drongo (Dicrurus atactus)
Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone rufiventer)
Pied Crow (Corvus albus)
White-shouldered Black Tit (Melaniparus guineensis)
Western Nicator (Nicator chloris)
Common Bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus)
Little Greenbul (Eurillas virens)
Plain Greenbul (Eurillas curvirostris)
Yellow-whiskered Greenbul (Eurillas latirostris)
Honeyguide Greenbul (Baeopogon indicator)
Simple Greenbul (Chlorocichla simplex)
Swamp Palm Bulbul (Thescelocichla leucopleura)
Red-tailed Bristlebill (Bleda syndactylus)
Green-tailed Bristlebill (Bleda eximius)
Western Bearded Greenbul (Criniger barbatus)
Red-tailed Greenbul (Criniger calurus)
Yellow-bearded Greenbul (Criniger olivaceus)
Moustached Grass Warbler (Melocichla mentalis)
Kemp's Longbill (Macrosphenus kempi)
Grey Longbill (Macrosphenus concolor)
Green Crombec (Sylvietta virens)
Green Hylia (Hylia prasina)
Red-faced Cisticola (Cisticola erythrops)
Whistling Cisticola (Cisticola lateralis)
Short-winged Cisticola (Cisticola brachypterus)
Black-capped Apalis (Apalis nigriceps)
Sharpe's Apalis (Apalis sharpii)
Oriole Warbler (Hypergerus atriceps)
Grey-backed Camaroptera (Camaroptera brevicaudata)
Yellow-browed Camaroptera (Camaroptera superciliaris)
Olive-green Camaroptera (Camaroptera chloronota)
Blackcap Illadopsis (Illadopsis cleaveri)
Rufous-winged Illadopsis (Illadopsis rufescens)
Pale-breasted Illadopsis (Illadopsis rufipennis)
Brown Illadopsis (Illadopsis fulvescens)
Copper-tailed Starling (Hylopsar cupreocauda)
Splendid Starling (Lamprotornis splendidus)
Finsch's Rufous Thrush (Stizorhina finschi)
White-tailed Alethe (Alethe diademata)
Grey Tit-Flycatcher (Myioparus plumbeus)
Dusky-blue Flycatcher (Muscicapa comitata)
Tessmann's Flycatcher (Muscicapa tessmanni)
Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat (Cossypha cyanocampter)
Forest Robin (Stiphrornis erythrothorax)
Collared Sunbird (Hedydipna collaris)
Olive Sunbird (Cyanomitra olivacea)
Splendid Sunbird (Cinnyris coccinigastrus)
Blue-billed Malimbe (Malimbus nitens)
Grey-headed Nigrita (Nigrita canicapillus)
 
I did it twice: in Ebird and xeno-canto. I got two lists. Both turned to have much more than 30 species, so next time I should be more selective. Both required a lot of mechanical clicking, but was quite fast (ca 20 min). However, I would still prefer to have such a thing prepared for me.
Just to note there are easier ways to do this. The xeno canto API allows you to find recordings by location. So you can download a list with all the Ghana recordings. (I can't remember exactly what the syntax is: you might have to run taxon-specific queries with location specified as Ghana. Either way, it's easy to automate.)

For ebird, you could either scrape the bar charts from the webpages or you could use the basic occurrence dataset (i.e. species x location)

With the list you have, you can prioritise some things. As a starter for 10 I'd go with: doves, Bush-shrikes and related (boubous, puffbacks etc), robin chats, greenbuls and related (Inc common bulbul etc), cisticolas, camaropteras. I wouldn't bother too much with sunbirds, hornbills, swallows, weavers for example.
 
Sure, I purposefully did not write a script for that.

As a starter for 10 I'd go with: doves, Bush-shrikes and related (boubous, puffbacks etc), robin chats, greenbuls and related (Inc common bulbul etc), cisticolas, camaropteras. I wouldn't bother too much with sunbirds, hornbills, swallows, weavers for example.

Something like that.

Curiously, bushshrikes and boubous did not make it to the most common sightings or sounds. The same with most of the greenbuls and most cisticolas. Is it because they are genuinely uncommon, or do birders don't know their calls so don't write them, and the thing is circular?
 
Curiously, bushshrikes and boubous did not make it to the most common sightings or sounds. The same with most of the greenbuls and most cisticolas. Is it because they are genuinely uncommon, or do birders don't know their calls so don't write them, and the thing is circular?
Well "proper" bush-shrikes don't call so much but boubous call incessantly and are a characteristic sound where present
 
I also tried the same on observation.org. This is the easiest site to produce the list of common birds. However, most species are not directly linked to good sounds or photos.

Login to observation.org. Select country : Ghana, Species seen, birds, from 2010-01-01 to today, month you want to travel there, All years. Press filter. Sort the list by number of observations y clicking on a hash. You get a detailed list, but no direct link to eg. sounds. A good thing is an easy possibility to cut-off on a given number of species, for example 30, 40, 50 most common ones. [\spoiler]
 
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