Loud non-native songbird in Ireland (1 Viewer)

[Sancho]

Today at 5pm, Powerscourt House and Gardens, in dense high shrubbery with a young oak tree, by the carpark, I heard (but couldn't see) an extremely loud bird singing. A loud 'Toodle-oo, Toodle-oo, Toodle-oo', repeated seven or eight times, followed by quieter chatter. Much louder than any Mistle Thrush. Not unlike (but not the same as) Golden Oriole recordings I've heard on Xeno-Canto. I only managed to record a bit at the end before a lot of traffic passed and it stopped. I couldn't see anything in the foliage except a robin and some LBJ-type birds flitting about. One thrush-sized silhouette flew through also. But nothing 'native' should be singing now, so I assume it's an escape of some sort. Has anyone got a clue what it is from the very brief recording?

Edit: Apologies...I've just listened to that attachment on my ipad and you can't really hear anything much. It's better on my phone. Anyway it doesn't include the major 'Toodle-oo' bits, so I'll have to forget it. Some bizarre escapee from an aviary, I'll wager.

 

[davercox]

As you say, Sancho, not much to hear here. One phrase towards the end sounds like Song Thrush to me.

 

[Sancho]

As you say, Sancho, not much to hear here. One phrase towards the end sounds like Song Thrush to me.

Thanks Dave. Yes, the bit at the end was a bit thrush-like, but the repetitive bits beforehand were no thrush species in Ireland, not even mistle thrush, and in any case no thrush here sings on September 30th. The repetitive bits were so loud that I thought at first the garden centre had put exotic birdsong on an outdoor speaker-system for some 'ambience'. But it was coming from the little tree in the shrubbery.

 

[jogresh]

Yes all i can hear is Song Thrush Sancho. Perhaps it's not too far fetched that they've put a speaker in the little tree and are playing a CD? Not impossible i spose.

 

[Sancho]

Yes all i can hear is Song Thrush Sancho. Perhaps it's not too far fetched that they've put a speaker in the little tree and are playing a CD? Not impossible i spose.

No...I actually went and asked them, they thought I was a loony! (I wasn't birding at the time, I was mountain biking, so I went in to reception to ask and I was wearing MTB clothes and covered in mud);:-O
But if it was a Song Thrush, it had only one real 'phrase', the ridiculously loud 'Toodle-Ooo', repeated 7-10 times on every 'set', for about five minutes, with a little bit of subdued chatter in between each 'set'. Any Song Thrush I've ever heard has different 'phrases', each repeated about 3-5 times. Also I've never heard a Song Thrush sing so late in the year.
Typically, when I tried to record it on my phone, I didn't press the record button properly the first time, and when I finally did it right, it didn't do it's Toodle-Ooo sound. But if you guys reckon the recording I finally got was Song Thrush, I'll take your word for it. I wonder (and this is based on nothing at all, just imagination), if it was a male Song Thrush fledged this year, who has just found his 'voice', has only 'learned' one real 'phrase', belts it out proudly like a Real Madrid fan, and hasn't quite got the hang of Circadian Rhythms and is singing in autumn for the hell of it?
I do understand that none of this actually matters a damn.

 

[jogresh]

I wonder if there's something in that idea about young male thrushes. Been birdwatching 35 ish years yet it's only in the last couple of autumns that i've once or twice started to notice very early Blackbirds kind of "tuning up", a bit shyly - perhaps building up the courage to give it some welly full blast, and wondered if they were this years young. Always learning, as someone said.

 

[jurek]

I can hear very vague sounds, which remind me of singing Great Reed Warbler or maybe grown young Tawny Owl. Check these sounds. But it is really at the edge of hearing and it can be something completely different.

 

[Sancho]

I can hear very vague sounds, which remind me of singing Great Reed Warbler or maybe grown young Tawny Owl. Check these sounds. But it is really at the edge of hearing and it can be something completely different.

Thanks Jurek. Great Reed Warbler or young Tawny Owl (in fact any Tawny Owl) would be bizarre here. But there definitely were weird bird-sounds coming out of that tree. It's a real shame I didn't record the main sound (Toodle-oo), because I've never heard anything like it. Even passers-by were stopping to listen, it was so loud. There was a robin singing too, maybe that is distorting the sound. As I said, the nearest sounds on xeno-canto I could find were almost, but not quite, like Golden Oriole (which is also absent here, and wouldn't be singing now anyway).
Ah well, it's the mysteries that make birding interesting. If everything were obvious, it wouldn't be fun! Thanks to all for trying to help.

 

[jurek]

Somebody said earlier that the sounds could be coming from the speaker. Both are unlikely in Ireland, I know.