Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Bird Song Refresher

Every spring I find myself having to dig out the CDs and remind myself how to identify all those new arrivals by their calls, so last year I started on a series of video clips to help folk having similar problems remembering what each song sounds like.
I even included a couple of common species that complete novices and non-birders get mixed up with, a rarity and some field ID markers.
I still have quite a lot more to do...the three skulkers being particularly tricky (Reed, Sedge and Grasshopper Warblers)...and some (e.g. Great Tit) have such a huge repertoire to cover. Even some of the commoner species have eluded me......too high in the canopy.....too much background noise.......hidden behind a twig.......nice view but not singing...or I've simply just not got round to it yet..

Anyway...here are the first of the bunch...

Garden Warbler - http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBaldIbis#p/c/1B5BC7C97A63EC5D/13/AF7JTlsc72Q

Blackcap =- http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBaldIbis#p/c/1B5BC7C97A63EC5D/12/WLkBVToXR9I

Whitethroat - http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBaldIbis#p/c/1B5BC7C97A63EC5D/11/4B6HNg7qznU

Robin and Blackbird - http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBaldIbis#p/c/1B5BC7C97A63EC5D/24/gi128TK5qwk

Chiffchaff - http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBaldIbis#p/c/1B5BC7C97A63EC5D/10/XsCyuHfYdSY

Iberian Chiffchaff - http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBaldIbis#p/c/28C2E00156683969/26/D2hulMxZEPc

5 comments:

Bruce said...

Nice one Steve. Good idea.

Matt Bell said...

I've converted them to hyperlinks for you Steve.

Steve Cummings said...

Cheers Matt.....

...Is it possible to upload audio clips to the blog? Might be useful for future posts on call ID.

Matt Bell said...

Depending on what format it is in, I believe you can. Start a new post as usual, and click on the icon that looks like 35mm film to add 'movie'. You can add all sorts of file types this way, and some of them appear to be audio files.

Steve Blacksmith said...

Great idea, Steve. Thanks for bringing us the Iberian Chiff-chaff. I will remember that verbally, as in "the normal local chiff-chaff song with a stuttering trill frequently added to it."

I can remember better this way, (verbally). Like the "little bit o' bread and no cheeese" being perfect for the Yellowhammer.

To go back to our local chiff-chaffs. If I am very close, I hear a weird little scratchy, creaking sound in between bouts of "Chiff-chaffing".

Love natural sounds - birds insects, amphibians. Detected a toad above Booth Wood Res on Sunday. No other signs, but I'm sure I heard one.