Crossbills, Speyside (1 Viewer)

[edenwatcher]

A thread title to make the blood run cold ...
Last weekend I led a very successful SOC outing to Speyside during which we encountered lots of pine munchers.
At Forest Lodge we had a single obvious male parrot xbill, a flock of 8 "pine crossbills" fly over and another male crossbill with a smaller bill. Photos of this bird will be added in due course. Sadly it was not heard to call.
In Anagach woods we had a flock of a few unIDed medium crossbills(!), then 3 clear parrots. We then a large flock (c30) of what looked like common crossbill of which I obtained a few recordings (contaminated by siskin!) - e.g. crossbill 1b below. Unfortunately, whilst it sounds loud enough in Remembird, the exported file seems very quiet. Can anyone help with this?
Finally we encountered a flock of about 15 which seemed a bit chunkier. The recording of this is a bit clearer (crossbill2).
Once I sort the exporting issue I hope to produce sonograms.

Here are the sound files:

Rob (more in hope than expectation)

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I think the Remembird software automatically boosts the sound of the recording, which is why recordings often sound louder using it than they do using other programmes. If you have Audacity then you can increase the gain and make the recording louder fairly easily.

 

[edenwatcher]

Installed Audacity yesterday, so I'll give it whirl later.

Thanks Andrew.

Rob

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

You could of course add to your evening's entertainment by downloading some sonogram software such as Syrinx or RavenLite.

 

[edenwatcher]

Already got Syrinx ...

Rob

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Already got Syrinx ...

Rob

Then the fun won't be stopping all night .

 

[edenwatcher]

Then the fun won't be stopping all night .

... but it's Sue's birthday and there's a pair of garganey to look for ...

Rob

 

[Capercaillie71]

A thread title to make the blood run cold ...

Here are a couple of sonograms of the loudest of your calls. For some reason I can't amplify the recording directly in audacity, so had to use another freeware program, mp3directcut, before opening it in RavenLite.

Both look like the same call which, using the 'traditional' names, would be a variant of a type 1 flight call, with a down-up-down shape. This particular variant seems to be quite common at the moment - I first recorded it near Carrbridge last August (although it could account for the possible Parrot I recorded at the start of this thread way back in Dec 07). I have heard and recorded the same calls in mid-Deeside a few times in the past year. Faint sonograms of the call seem to look quite like Type 2 calls, because the small initial down-stroke disappears. The strong final downstroke seems to account for the 'chup' sound that makes it sound like some published Parrot flight call recordings.

As to what species it is - who knows??!! but type 1 calls have traditionally been attributed to Common Crossbill.

 

[edenwatcher]

Thanks Paul.

Here are the photos from Forest Lodge:

Rob

About to produce sonograms.

 

[edenwatcher]

Here is a sonogram from the same section - looks pretty much like yours!

Rob

 

[edenwatcher]

... and here are the new amplified mp3 files.

Rob

 

[bombycilla]

In Anagach woods we had a flock of a few unIDed medium crossbills(!), then 3 clear parrots. We then a large flock (c30) of what looked like common crossbill of which I obtained a few recordings (contaminated by siskin!) - e.g. crossbill 1b below.

Report HERE from exact same area with sonagrams etc.

 

[edenwatcher]

Interesting. Wonder if the same group of 3 parrots were involved (2m1f)!
Thanks everyone. Looks like scotbill remains elusive.

Rob