Sunday, August 16, 2009

Blackcap

We still have a male Blackcap visiting our garden and feeding on honeysuckle berries, it's been here well over a week now coming back to the same spot.

I was out in the garden this afternoon and heard this really quiet muffled warble from within the bush and crept nearer to where the sound was coming from. It was the Blackcap singing it's usual song about 3m from where I was standing except the song was so quiet it could hardly be heard, even when I was so close to it. I wonder if anyone else has experienced bird song like this as Blackcaps usually 'belt out' their presence in no uncertain manner!
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5 comments:

Bruce said...

The redstart at Ogden was also a very muted short song, perhaps because its a juv or time of year??

10:53 pm
Mike Stead said...

Not Blackcaps, but Blackbirds in my garden regularly make a muted sort of gurgling call, only just audible - often when the supply of grapes has run out !

12:49 pm
Nick Carter said...

I think this type of song is called "subsong" and is a well known occurence in young birds.

12:53 pm
Ian Scott said...

Hi Dave, I've heard blackcaps singing quietly before from a hedge at the side of the path. I thought the song was more melodious and varied than the usual loud one. Definitely only audible from a few yards away.

I've noticed a lot of jays this year that do the same, provided you can get close enough without alarming them!

12:54 pm
Steve Blacksmith said...

Robins occasionally do it when they follow me around in the garden in winter. It's very cute - like they're singing just for me!
From Ludwig Koch's Encyclopedia of British Birds - "Sub-Song. Soft, often continuous, song uttered by some birds, which is completely at variance form their ordinary, loud song and their call notes. It is usually a sweet warbling or twittering, audible only at close quarters, that goes on undisturbed, and seemingly unheard, by other birds. The Editor has often heard it, for instance, early in spring from pied wagtails and jays. Wether the sub-song serves any purpose and, if so, what, is as yet unknown." (1950s)

1:28 pm

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