Blackbird Note Info

[Pipa]

I have a male blackbird in my garden this morning, I've heard him make this call before but i don't know why they do it.. is it a warning alarm, calling for his female, does anyone know

it's a single note very high pitched whistle.. kinda goes like this "eeeeeeee..." very high pitch lke a dog whistle, lasts about 3 seconds, stops for about 3 seconds.. then he does it again.. usually he does it when he's at my feeding station for a couple of times, but this morning he kept going in to the bushes up beside our greenhouse,making this whistle noise, for about 5 minutes, then he hopped back out kept making the noise.. then going back into the bushes...

he was also fanning out his tail and dipping his face to the ground before he hopped into the bushes (looked like courtship behaviour to me but there is no female in sight)

anyone know why they make this high pitched single note whistle noise, he's defintly a male, defintley an adult

[fluffiefledgling]

Hi Pipa,i had a juvenile blackbird in the garden yesterday,it kept making exactly the same call and it did this for a good few minutes.I watched through the back window and then stood at my back door,the blackbird was perched on a fence with a juicy titbit in its beak.I too would love to know what this call is..i dont normally hear this sound from the other blackbirds in the garden.

[potatoe-mouse]

Hi Pipa and fluffiefledgling. I don't really know too much about birds, but if its the call I'm thinking of (I'd describe it as a repeated tseep) I don't think its always an alarm call, although that display does sound courtship/territorial. I have seen a pair sitting quite relaxed in our hawthorne making this noise while preening themselves, or just going about their business. I might be wrong but the ones I've seen seem to start about this time of year and carry on even through the part of the year where the rest of the birds go quiet. I've always wondered if it was some kind of contact call, or even just for the heck of it - you know how vocal they can be, first up and last to bed, and that lovely very low crooning they do under their breath, it's almost like they can't stop .

[shadowx]

AHA!!!! I am so glad this thread has been posted!!

During the (once) frequent BBQs at the grandparent's we would hear this noise, the other people I was with insisted it was either a squeaking tree or something like a metal weather vane rotating in the wind and squeaking, I insisted it was a bird and seems I have been proven correct! Yay!

I first heard it when we had the mini heatwave in may... or was that march? I dont know now... But havent been for another BBQ recently due to the Wimbledon weather!

[RKB]

The high whistle is the 'bird of prey alarm call', or 'danger from above'. It's usually given when they see a Sparrowhawk or Kestrel overhead. The call is ventriloqual, in that can be hard to locate. When they are alarming about a ground predator they use the 'chook-chook-chook' call, which is easy to locate.

This difference is because a ground predator that has been seen is not much threat to a Blackbird anymore, so they can mob it from a safe distance and use the call to attract other birds, so helping to drive it away (the 'chook' calls are easy to locate, being wide frequency). A bird of prey, on the other hand, is still a major threat even if it has been seen, because they are more agile than e.g. a cat, so Blackbirds use the thin 'seee' call to alert other birds but not give away their own position. They will also remain very still while they give it.

Robins and Song Thrushes share the same call, and will respond to each other by freezing, often for many minutes.

It's not always caused by predators, though, and sometimes can be given in response to anything above them that is making them anxious, such as aircraft, or a crow sat on a roof.

You can read more about it, with examples, here: http://www.bl.uk/listentonature/spec...ofbirds7b.html

[shadowx]

Very interesting!

I have had a listen and it is similar to what I have heard, the noise I heard was longer and slightly higher pitch, the pitch is very close though. Do blackbirds, or other birds, have a similar pitched but longer call? perhaps 1.5-2 seconds in length?

[valleyforge]

Originally Posted by RKB

The high whistle is the 'bird of prey alarm call', or 'danger from above'. It's usually given when they see a Sparrowhawk or Kestrel overhead. The call is ventriloqual, in that can be hard to locate. When they are alarming about a ground predator they use the 'chook-chook-chook' call, which is easy to locate.

This difference is because a ground predator that has been seen is not much threat to a Blackbird anymore, so they can mob it from a safe distance and use the call to attract other birds, so helping to drive it away (the 'chook' calls are easy to locate, being wide frequency). A bird of prey, on the other hand, is still a major threat even if it has been seen, because they are more agile than e.g. a cat, so Blackbirds use the thin 'seee' call to alert other birds but not give away their own position. They will also remain very still while they give it.

I agree with this analysis and explanation ... the 'seee' call is invariably accompanied by the blackbird adopting a crouching posture ... that posture is then shared by at least some other passerine species (I've noted that behaviour in greenfinches, chaffinches, sparrows, tits, GS woodpeckers) who appear to understand the significance of the call, even if they are out of line-of-sight of the calling bird.

I've only known this call to have been delivered by male blackbirds however, but perhaps that's only because the number of blackbirds we have cared for have been skewed towards that sex. Is there anything known whether or not females deliver the same call, I wonder?

However, a long-term resident female greenfinch used to produce a similar note when it had spotted a kestrel or sparrowhawk ... buzzards never elicited a similar response ... and that was from an individual hand-reared from a pre-fledged nestling, so clearly the reaction is an innate one, rather than a learned response.

As a further observation however, I can add that this call does not appear to be used exclusively for aerial predators ... as I've frequently heard (two different) male blackbirds produce that same call overnight from within a darkened room ... but ... and here's the interesting bit ... only when the blackbird knows there are other birds in the same room. So it might be presumed to perhaps be a warning rather of unspecified, or unseen danger ... quite often the 'seee' sequence concludes with an 'all-clear' cluck or scolding 'chook-chook'.

I know that I have initiated the call, simply by rising to go to the toilet in the night, and so inadvertantly causing a patient bird in an adjacent room some minor disturbance.

One other observation related to this particular call from blackbirds in particular, is that the frequency is close to ultra-sound, and appears to have the same neuro-disrupting effect on small rodents (specifically wood-mice) as does an electronic ultrasound device used to keep buildings clear of 'vermin'.

It's not such a leap of faith therefore, to perhaps consider that this call might also provide some protection from that quarter to the roosting birds overnight.

Maybe there's a PhD research project there for someone to follow-up?

[shadowx]

Pure speculation.... But if it does indeed have anti-rodent qualities then surely it would aid in defending unhatched eggs from being eaten by various rodents?

When I have heard it the noise repeats itself for a long time, eventually i just start ignoring it but it isnt once or twice, upwards of 10 or more before i switch off. There are kestrels around but to my knowledge no other birds of prey, or at least very few.

[RKB]

Originally Posted by valleyforge

I agree with this analysis and explanation ... the 'seee' call is invariably accompanied by the blackbird adopting a crouching posture ... that posture is then shared by at least some other passerine species (I've noted that behaviour in greenfinches, chaffinches, sparrows, tits, GS woodpeckers) who appear to understand the significance of the call, even if they are out of line-of-sight of the calling bird.

Tits do use it, but they also have an additional explosive PIT for raptor attacks, which makes them dive vertically into cover. Impressive when you see it in a tit flock, and they all drop like stones!

Originally Posted by valleyforge

I've only known this call to have been delivered by male blackbirds however,

Pretty sure I've heard it from females.

Originally Posted by valleyforge

As a further observation however, I can add that this call does not appear to be used exclusively for aerial predators ... as I've frequently heard (two different) male blackbirds produce that same call overnight from within a darkened room ... but ... and here's the interesting bit ... only when the blackbird knows there are other birds in the same room. So it might be presumed to perhaps be a warning rather of unspecified, or unseen danger

Maybe they're just perceiving the threat as coming from the above, perhaps in anticipation of an owl? They certainly use it as a cautious warning, and not just as a response to seeing something. I think if they perceive an aerial threat then they'll also give the warning, just to be on the safe side.

Originally Posted by valleyforge

One other observation related to this particular call from blackbirds in particular, is that the frequency is close to ultra-sound, and appears to have the same neuro-disrupting effect on small rodents (specifically wood-mice) as does an electronic ultrasound device used to keep buildings clear of 'vermin'.

It's not such a leap of faith therefore, to perhaps consider that this call might also provide some protection from that quarter to the roosting birds overnight.

Ultrasound is effectively anything above human hearing (so above about 20 kHz), and a lot of bird (and mammal) vocalisations are above that (birds maybe up to 25 or even 30 KHz), so I doubt there's a link with rodents. Sonic rodent scarers are in the range 35-60 KHz, so what we do and don't hear of the Blackbird call is unlikely to bother rodents.

The reason they use high frequency calls for this kind of alarm (where they maybe can't see the threat around them or don't know where it come from) is because high frequencies travel further than low, and are harder to localise because they don't degrade as much while they travel. So a low-frequency 'chook' call degrades quickly and is therefore easier for the brain to locate based on degradation and direction, whereas a seeee call is much more penetrating at distance. And because you can hear it further away, the predator can't tell where it came from as easily (near or far).

A call that slides up and/or down the frequency scales, such as song, has the best of tboh - it carries over distance to communicate over a wide area, and it also accurately locates the bird to let others know where it's coming from (and that the spot is occupied). There's been quite a bit of work on vocalisations, particularly in the States.

[fluffiefledgling]

i heard this call again this morning and could see a red kite circling the sky,the kite was a fair distance away although i couldnt see the blackbird.I'm amazed at that blackbird spotting the red kite being it was so far away.