hi Im new here and need help!!!

[james thomason]

Hello folks.
I am hoping someone can put me out of my misery and tell me what I am hearing in my garden.
Its a high pitched whistle which changes tone up and down quickly.
The best way to describe it is to ask you to try and whistle up and down while you say `whichoo whichoo whichoo'.
It is not two seperate notes and is most certainly not a chiff chaff or a great tit.
I have been a bit of a bird watcher all my life and am very famiiar with the latter two, but I have never heard this before.
I first heard it on friday and it has been back a couple of times since then.
I do hope some one can give me an idea because its driving me mad with curiosity.
thanks.

[shenk1]

Hi James and welcome to WAB
I'm certainly no expert but try goldfinch as they make that type of sound .The RSPB website has sound clips to help you.
Cheers shenk1

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by james thomason

The best way to describe it is to ask you to try and whistle up and down while you say `whichoo whichoo whichoo'.
It is not two seperate notes and is most certainly not a chiff chaff or a great tit.

Hi James, and welcome!

Although you have already considered this, I would have to suggest that the bird you are hearing is perhaps a Great Tit!
Great Tits produce a variety of different calls, and often confuse even very experienced birdwatchers (I have been a birder for over 25 years and had to actually see a bird that was heard calling on a walk I lead recently before I could confirm that it was a Great Tit - I suspected the ID but didn't recognise the call at all!).

Your description would fit some Great Tit calls, alternatively it could easily be a Coal Tit (it would be a very good fit for some of their calls). I will see if I can find some links to recordings later.


Great Tit (see the two recordings by G Boano on this page):
http://www.xeno-canto.org/browse.php?query=great tit&pagenumber=&order=taxonomy&view=0&pagenumber=2

Coal Tit (the recordings of songs here are fairly typical):
http://www.xeno-canto.org/browse.php?query=coal+tit

[james thomason]

Hello RoyW and thanks for your reply.
I went to that site you recommended and still cannot find it.
I have now tried the following: Great tit, chiffchaff, coal tit, wheatear, redstart, greenfinch, goldfinch, ring ouzel, reed bunting, black cap, linnet, yellow hammer, skylark.
I am tempted to think it is a summer visitor because of the fact that it has only just appeared. As i have said I have never heard it before.
I hear it in the mornings before I set off for work, so I am going to try and record it at the weekend if I can although it will probably only be on my phone which is not great quality. I have then got to come into the 21st century by trying to get it uploaded on to my computer.
Thanks for your help so far and I will continue in my quest.

[RoyW]

If it's not a Great or Coal Tit perhaps Nuthatch is worth trying.

The fourth & sixth recordings by Stuart Fisher on this page xeno-canto :: bird sounds from around the world :: nuthatch could be described the way you have described what you heard.

I've got no other suggestions at the moment.


Roy.




BTW - If any one has tried to follow the Great Tit link in my previous post, the link is broken. Copy and paste both lines (http>>>pagenumber=2) into the address bar to go straight to the intended page.

[nigel_b]

Have you tried starling?

[dampflippers]

I waS going to suggest great tit or coal tit if it sounds a bit like a bicycle pump.
Other than that, sit quietly and when you hear it try to home in with some binoculars.