Bird ID from call

[judithcecilia]

County Durham. Walking through a local industrial park this afternoon, past low trees, I heard a gentle, softly rising repetitive single call, which came from two (small?) birds. Each bird seemed to be following a different time signature, so that at one point the calls followed like an echo, then once or twice they would sound simultaneously, like a rather eccentric call and reply. What impressed me was the way the calls went on with no variation, changing position slightly, but not moving away even when a group of cyclists passed.

Rhythm of pairs

x - x / x - x / x - x / x-x / xx / x-x / x - x /

Wearing my reading glasses, all I could see were little birds who looked like sparrows, and I wasn't even sure they were the ones calling. Any ideas?

Thanks

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by judithcecilia

County Durham. Walking through a local industrial park this afternoon, past low trees, I heard a gentle, softly rising repetitive single call, which came from two (small?) birds. Each bird seemed to be following a different time signature, so that at one point the calls followed like an echo, then once or twice they would sound simultaneously, like a rather eccentric call and reply. What impressed me was the way the calls went on with no variation, changing position slightly, but not moving away even when a group of cyclists passed.

Rhythm of pairs

x - x / x - x / x - x / x-x / xx / x-x / x - x /

Wearing my reading glasses, all I could see were little birds who looked like sparrows, and I wasn't even sure they were the ones calling. Any ideas?

Thanks

Anything like this?

http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/upl...relocklate.mp3

Cheers
Jonathan

[leon_heller]

Perhaps there is a database somewhere with some clever software that can identify birdsong from a recording made, for instance, on a smart phone.

I just found that such a database does exist:

xeno-canto :: bird sounds from around the world

I think that identification has to be done by human beings, though.

[Gudge]

Could be anything. But you could try chiff-chaff on the xeno-canto site suggested.
gudge

[leon_heller]

Originally Posted by Gudge

Could be anything. But you could try chiff-chaff on the xeno-canto site suggested.
gudge

I just found this technique for describing bird song:

Ask E.T.: Visual notation of bird songs

There are probably many others, including music notation.

[Dogghound]

Can describe what the call was like? could be a chiff-chaff or great tit etc, quite afew birds make two tone calls like you say.

[RKB]

Sounds quite a lot like Chaffinch 'rain call' or hweet 'duet'.

[ChrisJB]

My first thought was the willow warbler contact call. Here in the South Pennines, most have stopped singing now and I'm hearing a lot of this contact call

Regards, Chris

[judithcecilia]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Anything like this?

http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/upl...relocklate.mp3

Cheers
Jonathan

Thank you for the recording.

Yes, the call was very like the one recorded at http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/upl...relocklate.mp3, though, perhaps because of the atmospherics on the day, it sounded warmer and 'flutier'.

The recording had no name attached. What is it?

JuCe

[judithcecilia]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Can describe what the call was like? could be a chiff-chaff or great tit etc, quite afew birds make two tone calls like you say.

I was going to attempt an imitation of the call on Audacity, but I think Jonathan has solved the mystery. Am going to check the xeno-canto site.
JuCe