is it just me or...

[thebeard]

are some of the soundbytes for birdsong on the rspb website rather unrepresentative of the birds they relate to. Its a great resource IMO, and its been helpful to me in the past, but i was listening through a few as i do sometimes, and the robin one was pretty rubbish, i've noticed it on a few others too, the great tit one doesn't even have the 'tee-chah' type call. i use 'uk garden birds' too for birdsong, does anyone know of any other good ones?

[loripo]

Maybe it's just you and me! They are really short and as you say don't sound at all the way you expect the birds to sound. The only other sites I have found have even shorter clips! I have a couple of CD's that were freebies from newspapers which are a lot better, but I would have liked photos and details as well

[Phoebe]

I agree with you 'the beard' I also use 'uk garden birds' but there is one I have used I can't remember the url but it is something like ceto.com it has thousands of calls and songs all recorded by different people all over the world, it is very user friendly and can be sorted into country or by recorder etc., there is someone by the name of Sharpe, who records a lot in the UK. If you can't find it send me a pm and I will find it for you.

[Jason Green]

Hi TB,

The Great Tit as a bird has about 130+ recorded vocals, and so the soundbite on the website can only be representative of that. I assume the 'tee-chah' one may have been too long since the recording on the RSPB site presumably contains one or more alarm calls and songs of each. I agree of course that it is a typical one.

The source of the recordings is mentioned at the bottom of each bird's page...

Audio is from commercial recordings Bird Songs and Calls of Britain and Europe on 4 CDs or Bird Sounds of Europe & North-west Africa, copyright WildSounds & CEBA

...so maybe depending on where the calls or alarms were recorded in Europe or Africa, they may sound different to our resident species perhaps?

Take care,

Jason

[Dogghound]

my advice is go out and do as much bird watching as you can, you pick them up alot quicker than with CD's I tried CD's at first and made slow progress, I went out and put alot of time in and improved rapidly. Im looking forward to the spring and all the song.

[thebeard]

The source of the recordings is mentioned at the bottom of each bird's page...
Quote:
Audio is from commercial recordings Bird Songs and Calls of Britain and Europe on 4 CDs or Bird Sounds of Europe & North-west Africa, copyright WildSounds & CEBA
...so maybe depending on where the calls or alarms were recorded in Europe or Africa, they may sound different to our resident species perhaps?

oooh, never saw that bit, maybe you're right!?

and yeah, dogghound, thats true i guess experience is a whole lot better, annoying when you can't see them though. sometimes i just use the site to just listen to them rather than for research though, its nice

[loripo]

Yes that's what I find. I can't see anything, but the songs & calls are quite loud and distinct, and I'd like to find what they might be. We are restricted being in a city, but I've been surprised at what's around.