hello, my mum and I have joined your forum because of this one birds song :-)
This bird is usually the first singing bird just before dawn around 4am. Always heard alone. Just one bird. Very melodic with singular, long, smooth wood wind or flute like sound. Each single note is spaced out and each one is a different key. I would estimate each note lasting two seconds and each silence in between also lasting a second or two. The song is beautiful. It is slow and calming and repetitive, not high pitched at all. A very humble song.
We think the bird that sounds closest in tone to this would be the pied or grey butcherbirds. But butcherbird calls during the day time where we live are vibratory and yodel like...they have a lot more cheekiness to their call. So if this bird is a butcherbird, their song is very different before dawn
We live in south east queensland, western brisbane, surrounded by a paddock of native gums, banksia, fruit trees, camphor laurel, liquid ambar and pine trees.
I've set up a way to record the song next time but thought i'd see if we could try to describe it ~ does anyone find this description familiar ?
Sorry I can't offer much help, except to say that I first noticed a beautiful melodic bird call that didn't fit at all with the Grey Butcher Bird that i was told it was. So completely different, but I did eventually realise it is the same bird.
elizabeth
Sounds lovely. Hope you manage to get a recording so we can give you an accurate response.
Hi Tiddlywink,
Yes your description sounds very familiar to me. I'd be confident that it is probably a Pied Butcherbird.
In spring time, young male butcherbirds (I've only noticed it with Pied Butcherbirds myself) will call about an hour before dawn with a very different song to the normal daytime chorus.
I think I may have posted a recording here myself once upon a time, but I think it was too long ago to still be here.
Cheers
Tim
Brisbane