USA, Central Texas, Austin suburbs Songbird for ID (1 Viewer)

[jbwid]

Sorry but I joined only to find out what bird this is! https://jbwid.com/ss/schwebobo.mp3

I've looked online, listened to YouTube videos and submitted the audio file to an online bird identifier (says it's a "Loggerhead Shrike", but I don't think so).

This recording is from a surveillance camera in my backyard; the water sound is from ponds. I've never seen the bird that sings this song, but it's sung the exact same sequence of flute-like tones for several years. I've always assumed that it was a common Central Texas songbird until I tried to find out what it was. (That's why the file is named "schwebobo.mp3".

Hopefully someone here will know what it is?

 

[Microtus]

It sounds like a Blue Jay to me. But it might be something else.

And welcome to the Forum!

 

[jbwid]

It sounds like a Blue Jay to me. But it might be something else.

And welcome to the Forum!

Thank you for your welcome, and for your reply.
You have more knowledge and expertise than I but I'm trying to learn more about the ones that I've heard and/or seen in our yard. (We have very "natural" front and back yards, mainly because we're lazy and too cheap to hire an arborist.)

I've seen plenty of Blue Jays in our yard shrieking, eating at our seed feeder, and dive-bombing cats. They're easy to identify because of their distinctive blue coloration. I once witnessed many of them gathered in trees shrieking at a cat who was stalking a chick who had fallen out of its nest. I'd never witnessed such a concerted effort like that before, and deduced that they were very smart birds! To be honest, they sounded very harsh, and not much like the sound sample. Of course, it might be a gender difference. Grackles are also very smart, harsh-sounding, and the males are very different looking and acting than the females. (Every time I watch them hopping around, I think of small dinosaur raptors.)

 

[D Halas]

It definitely sounds to me like the "rusty clothesline" sound Blue Jays often make.

 

[jbwid]

Thanks for the replies! I didn't think it sounded like a Blue Jay based on the videos I'd watched and heard, but I didn't know that Blue Jays made a variety of vocalizations; I had expected to hear one that was exactly like the recording I'd made, but I now realize that my recording probably represents one specific bird that had been visiting for several years and always made the same sound, unique to that bird. Now I know what to look for, so thank you!