This beautiful bird call only occurs in Spring, for the 15 minutes before dawn. It is too dark to get a good look, even with binoculars, and it's very shy. It hears me sneak out of my house and flys from the top of my leopard tree to the top of my neighbour's gum tree where I can just see it watching me through my binoculars. https://youtu.be/kl960Yo4eCY
That might be a Grey Butcherbird, Melanie.
Thanks for the suggestion. The tone is similar, I agree, but it is a very clear and repeated "I am doing it, yes I am", and there are never any variations. The butcherbirds that visit my garden are the pied variety, and yodel beautifully, and from the calls I have listened to, the Grey butcherbird yodels as well. I have never had a daytime visit from a grey butcherbird, either. From the silhouette the beak appears shorter and slimmer than a butcherbird, more like an insectivore.
As it sings "I am doing it, yes I am" at 4.50 am, I am thinking the "doing" it refers to is driving me nuts with curiosity and frustration!
+1 for grey butcherbird.
LM
https://youtu.be/ZlAb-ObjIH4.
Similar, but I can't find any recordings, identified as grey butcherbirds, that sound the same as my visitor.
100% Grey Butcherbird, they are resident around my house and i hear and see them every day. Follow this link, the 12th recording down under 'Wyperfield National Park' is pretty close to your recording. http://www.xeno-canto.org/explore?query=grey+butcherbird
LM
they are extremely variable in terms of vocalisation
maybe every bird sound slightly different
I think there is another call in the background of the recording, a repeated single-note call ("two-two" or something like that ) and I'm very interested in knowing what that is. It sounds very similar to a call that I hear each morning before sun-up. I live in NSW on the Central Coast. I agree with previous posters re grey butcherbird. Sounds just like the greys we get around here.
Tapdog i think the other bird is an Eastern Rosella.
LM
I would go with noisy miner for the background "two-two" sound.
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
I agree with HelloBirdy for the backround "two two" call. The noisy miners do this around our house in the morning too :)
I stand corrected, definitely Noisy Miner. Don't know how i overlooked that!
LM