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Identify bird call 'puk puk poww', early spring, Kent, slightly wooded (1 Viewer)

A

AndyMGtr

Member
United Kingdom
Hi,
I'm trying to ID the bird that makes a low 'puk puk poww' call, It has a soft timbre/tone to the voice similar to a dove/pigeon, I was in a slightly wooded part of Kent, South England (although I'm not sure that is strictly relevant)

Any ideas would help rest my mind!

Many thanks
Andy
 
Hi Andy and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. Sorry, don't think I can help with this, but there's bound to be a few coming along soon who'll have some ideas for you. I take it this was recently?

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.
 
AndyMGtr said:
Hi,
I'm trying to ID the bird that makes a low 'puk puk poww' call, It has a soft timbre/tone to the voice similar to a dove/pigeon, I was in a slightly wooded part of Kent, South England (although I'm not sure that is strictly relevant)

Any ideas would help rest my mind!

Many thanks
Andy
Click to expand...

This is quite difficult but maybe you have extra information?
  • What time?
  • Was the (whole) call high, low?
  • At what distance could it be heard?
  • Was there some difference like in morse codes: short - short - long?
  • Did the bird repeat the 'puk puk poww'?
  • Anything else about the sound?
  • Were there more birds with that call?
  • Was the bird hidden in a low bush or high in a tree?
  • Did you see anything that gives an idea about the size?
And 'slightly wooded' is certainly relevant :)
 
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In case of a collared dove you'd expect something like 'puk-poww puk' instead of 'puk puk poww' since the middle part is the longest. But hey phonetics :)
 
TheBlackGrouse said:
In case of a collared dove you'd expect...
Click to expand...
In the case of written-only descriptions of unknown birds, one learns to expect that at least one major part of a description will (if the ID is ever resolved) turn out to have been straightforwardly wrong (no offence to the OP).
 
Butty said:
Collared dove.
Welcome to BF.
Click to expand...
Thx for the reply, and good to be in touch. I am/was quite familiar with collared dove calls, I did consider it pigeon/dove but concluded it wasn't either, happy to defer to the more experienced of course. It was 6pm, there were lots of jackdaw calls at the time, the 'puk puk poww' wasn't as loud but did feel as local as the jackdaws, the call did repeat but at approx 20/30 second intervals, the 'puk puk' was ever so slightly higher pitched than the 'poww', the 'poww' was slightly drawn out in delivery.
 
Butty said:
In the case of written-only descriptions of unknown birds, one learns to expect that at least one major part of a description will (if the ID is ever resolved) turn out to have been straightforwardly wrong (no offence to the OP).
Click to expand...
Thx for the response, no offence take, not sure how to describe the call other than 'puk puk poww'? it certainly wasn't a 'mooo' or the bark of a dog.....no sarcasm intended, I do have a recording of it on my mobile
 
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delia todd said:
Hi Andy and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. Sorry, don't think I can help with this, but there's bound to be a few coming along soon who'll have some ideas for you. I take it this was recently?

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.
Click to expand...
Many thanks!
 
I
AndyMGtr said:
Hi Alexander, thx for getting back to me, the recording is actually on a video clip recorded on my friends mobile and sent to me, I will look into either extracting the audio from it or posting the clip - many thanks
Click to expand...
If you want to upload it as a 'video', it has to be hosted on a site such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok (there are others} Then use the 'double image' icon in the bar above the message pane.

If you need more help, don't be afraid to ask.
 
AndyMGtr said:
Hi Alexander, the call I'm interested in is at the very beginning of the clip, somewhere in the middle under various crow/jackdaw calls and is quite distinct towards the end - any thoughts greatly appreciated, cheers
Click to expand...
Never heard something like this in Western Europe. Sounds to me like a rainforest bird, this sound carries far in wooded areas, compare it to the tone colour of the Golden Oriole. It vaguely reminds me of a bird I heard in a zoo a long time ago. This makes me think that it's an escape. And by the way, now I understand your description :)
 
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Butty said:
🤷🏻
Click to expand...
TheBlackGrouse said:
Never heard something like this in Western Europe. Sounds to me like a rainforest bird, this sound carries far in wooded areas, compare it to the tone colour of the Golden Oriole. It vaguely reminds me of a bird I heard in a zoo a long time ago. This makes me think that it's an escape. And by the way, now I understand your description :)
Click to expand...
Thx for the reply, the Oriole is a song bird of sorts, not sure if we have any sightings in the UK/Kent? Forgive me, but I can't hear any similarity between the sweet song of an Oriole, with it's many syllables, to that of the call I describe as 'puk puk poww' with just 2 syllables, and where 1 syllable is repeated - if you listen at https://www.birdforum.net/data/audio/1515/1515810-3b043a6ed0509d9d355cf7a8468d1de1.mp3, the first time we hear the call is at time 0:0/0:2 the next is at 0:9, 0:13/0:14 and 0:18/0:19
 
AndyMGtr said:
Thx for the reply, the Oriole is a song bird of sorts, not sure if we have any sightings in the UK/Kent? Forgive me, but I can't hear any similarity between the sweet song of an Oriole, with it's many syllables, to that of the call I describe as 'puk puk poww' with just 2 syllables, and where 1 syllable is repeated - if you listen at https://www.birdforum.net/data/audio/1515/1515810-3b043a6ed0509d9d355cf7a8468d1de1.mp3, the first time we hear the call is at time 0:0/0:2 the next is at 0:9, 0:13/0:14 and 0:18/0:19
Click to expand...
Sorry, I wasn't clear, the call you heard has a tone colour (not the best word I think) that travels a long way in forests, just like the sound of an Oriole.

A few times I've seen an Oriole singing in an open field and then the sound almost disappears. However, in a forest it's song can be heard a mile away. It has a pitch, tone, resonance that is completely 'adapted' to a forest. The sound of your bird has the same characteristics and that's why I think it's a bird from a rainforest.
 
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