Hi I am trying to identify a bird in my area which is Newtown, NSW. It's fairly dark at 4am so the best description i can give is;
Height : Around 20-30cm
Color : Brownish/Greyish (i think)
Shape : similar to wattle bird or butcher bird?
It seems to flock in my area in swarms and similar to the Coal bird, they sit in trees miles apart and call out to each other, they seem to only like the gumtrees. The sound is hideous, like giant crickets echoing through the dead of morning. Seems to be a springtime thing every morning from 4am - 6.30am. I have recorded 2 snippets and uploaded to my site here;
www.noofny.net/files/birds.mp3
www.noofny.net/files/birdcall.mp3
I have looked everywhere but cannot get info and are hoping to learn what the species is so I can understand it more before I consider taking action.
Really appreciate if anyone can help.
Thanks!
That is hideous?
It sounds quite pleasant to me. I hope someone can identify it.
What sort of "action" did you have in mind?
- soakes
soakes
Olinda, Victoria, Australia
Hey thanks for the quick response. The part of the sound I consider hideous is the part that sits 3 meters from my window and wakes me at 4am every day! I'm not a morning person and this is affecting my sleep rhythms and moods more than I thought it would. You're right the actual sound is very sweet and kind of mesmerizing, just not at 4am thanks.
Actions I'm considering depend on what the bird is and if it is native/introduced/pest/etc. I'm not a redneck and hate even killing fly's or cockroaches (seriously) so I don't know how I could ever harm this little bugger but we all have our tipping points. So far I've purchased a kids water pistol and are shooting water at it in hope to deter it away from the tree it likes outside my window. This seems to be working, as in it still comes back to the same branch but is starting to favor other trees a little further away and higher up. If I can softly convince it that it wants to pick a dryer place to sing it's little heart out then I'll be satisfied!
Of course I can see the humor in all this, I have a running joke with my friends who live in the sticks that I live under a major international flight path but what wakes me is this stupid little bird!! :-) (well admittedly the first plane doesn't fly over until 7am).
Hi Noofny
I was expecting it to be the Koel, but it doesn't sound like that call. It generally makes a "coo-eee" call, or a series of whooping noises. Listen to the sound file attached on this BiBY link (down the very bottom-right of the page.
http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/bird/54
In general Cuckoos are famous for their persistent calling, but I do not recognise your call at all.
Cheers
Denis
Denis Wilson
www.peonyden.blogspot.com
Thanks Denis...yeah I'm familiar with the Koels and the bird looks similar but definitely isnt the right call. Thanks for your input tho.
I tried to access your "snippets" but had no luck,can someone tell me how I can get to listen to it please.
Hi Tassie - if the MP3 wont play for you then you can download the ZIP and play the MP3 in it - http://www.noofny.net/files/birds.zip
Let me know if I can be more help.
HI Noofny
Sounds a bit like a Little Wattlebird you could try a plastic Owl or Hawk this has worked before or a large rubber snake on a bit of hat elastic so it moves in the wind.
HI Tassie
If you copy and paste it to google mate.
Thanks guys, got it. I am getting a bit frustrated because that call is very familiar to me.
What I can tell you is that it is found up the Eastern seaboard because I have heard it up here.
I will have to sit on it for a bit, just can't place it at the moment.
Hi all
Tassie nice that you thought I would know it but I have to say it isn't familiar to me at all.
Couldn't call it hideous tho even at 4.30 in the morning!!
try having a catbird outside your window at that time.... now that can be trying :)
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Hi Noofny,
I hope this doesn't sound like a silly question, but could it be a figbird? I listened to the calls that you recorded, and they sound very familiar to me. I also hear those calls most mornings. On several occasions, I've run outside in my pjs to find... a figbird.
The BiBY website has a recording of the figbird, and it sounds a bit different to your bird, but I have definitely heard your call from a figbird. (I'm in Brisbane.)
Andy.
Andy - I took a look around the net at Figbirds and listening to calls and watching videos, I definitely cannot match up the call I'm hearing to the ones around on the net. I did feel that seeing images of the female Australasian figbird look like what I'm seeing, but I cannot get a decent look at it.
Am getting a good response from Brissy folks - thanks all who are trying to help solve this mystery! I cannot believe this is so hard to identify when you can hear them sweep through 2-3 and possibly more neighboring suburbs every morning for 3 months - I cannot be the only person who notices it! Is this some strange science conspiracy or are they remote controlled robot birds sent by the military?!
Don't think I can help, but it sound a bit 'Magpie Larkish....'
Ed Townsville NQ
Hi All
I live with figbirds every day and I would definitely say not a figbird from my experience. (unless they save some different call specifically to torture some poor sod who has now got insomnia!!) :'D
Just listened to your call again, and I wads wondering if anyone can tell us which birds typically, are known to call at night or before first light?
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Definately not a Figbird.
Hey Birdie nearly every bird I have in my neighbourhood calls before the sun is up so that makes it hard.
All of the ones we have here start about 45 minutes before first light.
Ok fine. Maybe my figbirds are just "special" ;-). I'm sticking by my claim that I've heard figbirds make that noise. Seriously though, I've often heard a call that sounds tantalisingly like a "new bird", only to find that it is either a figbird or noisy minor. I'm sure they do it on purpose...
I'm thinking that perhaps this bird does this particular call only at first light, as part of a springtime mating ritual. Because you only occasionally hear the same call during the day, maybe only 2-3 times...so it's hard to see which bird it is. I'm hanging out for a new camera so I can get a nice zoom in photo of it. Does anyone think it could be a special kind of call a bird like a minor is making as part of a mating ritual? Just I've only heard this in the morning during spring time..?
The more I think of it the more I am thinking Minor.
noofny,
.
I think your idea is very possible - I woke up early the other morning when I heard what I thought was a "new" bird call for my area, a bit before sunrise.
.
I was quite surprised to see that it was "just" a Noisy Miner making a different spring time call. Unfortunately, I can't remember if it sounded the same as your call or not.
.
I've also noticed that Butcherbirds have a special spring time mating call that is well before first light (like 4am). One drove me nuts outside my window for a week or so.
Cheers
Tim
Brisbane
I too have been tricked by the noisy miners. I quite often duck outside to see what I have only to find myself disappointed with it being a different kind of noisy miner call.
Tassie - dur.... I am not silly enough to think that there are only a few birds calling at dawn!!! No what I meant was way before dawn, as some of them do call in the middle of the night . I have heard Butcherbirds do it.
Cheers Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Sorry Birdie I wasn't having a go at you.
Tassie - lighten up mate :') I didn't think you were having a go - just realised how broad my description was!!
Actually I thought I heard a similar call today several times around the area at home. And.... you guessed it... the only birds around that I could see at the time were the noisies.
I tell a lie actually, there were others around - the drongos are in in full swing near my fence at moment and what a racket they're making. But at least it's not in the early hours.
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Hi! Noofny, from Brisbane also, and our Miners make a distinct pre dawn call, not unlike, but different from your recordings.
These pre dawn calls come from one bird only (out of ~ 20 birds in our local group) and are answered right across the neighborhood again only by a single bird in each location. Later at first light the whole clan do the ‘piping’ call. I suspect that there would be 80~100 Noisy Miners calling.
Some other Honey Eaters share common traits with Noisy Miners, might be the culprit.
@ Timmo... yeah I recon I 'm hearing a 4.00am call from the Grey Butcher bird that we don’t hear any other time.
So Noofny I'm of the view that if the culprit's close enough to hose down with a water pistol you should use your camera's flash and answer the riddle...
VJ
VernJ - what you're talking about is exactly what is going on - I think there would be at least 100 birds within a dozen blocks all copying eachother with the same song. The whole flock moves slowly from south to north. You hear it coming from the distance and sweep through your area and then go off again north in the distance. The whole thing from when you first hear them coming to when you hear them off again in the distance is 1-2 hours. They seem to sit stationary for around 20 mins at a time while they sing their thing.
I got a better look at one the other morning and it is definitely light grey with a bright yellow beak and smaller than i thought (same size as noisy minor). I'm pretty sure this thing is going to turn out to be a noisy minor - my camera came yesterday so I will try get a good photo and upload it tomorrow. Stay tuned....
Do I get points for tentatively suggesting a noisy minor a while ago, when saying that I often run outside to find the "new" bird, only to see a minor or fig bird? ;-)
Just in case it's not clear - I'm just kidding... it's not a competition. (But if it was, I would win, right?) Whoops there I go again. Be sensible, Andy.
Hey Andy we better wait for the photographic evidence, but yes alright you got it first ... or was it Timmo ...
VJ
Andy,
Being sensible is WAY overrated! :)
.
On review, yes you get first mention of a noisy minor AND bragging rights!!
.
My response was simply to noofny's own suggestion of it being a spring mating/before dawn call.
Cheers
Tim
Brisbane
Alright folks, this is the best shot i can get without a telephoto lens. I think it's ironic that the size of the flock is thinning out as of the last week and the birds are not hanging around singing as much. This one's happy to make return visits each morning, but only for 15 mins or so now instead of 30-60 mins every morning. The images are huge so the links are below - you'll see the little grey bugger with that signature yellow beak in the middle of each one. I've made my mind up already...be very interested to see what you guys think!
http://www.noofny.net/files/bird1.jpg
http://www.noofny.net/files/bird2.jpg
http://www.noofny.net/files/bird3.jpg
Gidday mate,Absolutely,positively a Noisy Miner,I knew I had heard that call before I just could not place it.
Well done Andy.....wooohooo !!!!
...yep ! and as I walked out the front afterwards there were a couple of minars eating crap in the gutter (the dark brown ones - are these the Indian Mynars?) - a grey color bird flew down and tried to swoop them so I got my camera out because it looked almost identical...see 3 pics of it...gotta be the same one;
http://www.noofny.net/files/bird4.jpg
http://www.noofny.net/files/bird5.jpg
http://www.noofny.net/files/bird6.jpg
I forgot to say thanks to all of you for helping out ID this bird. It's been an interesting little adventure!
Hi all - after reading around about the noisy miner i'm asking what success stories anyone has with deterring them from their front windows etc. We've tried a few things like spraying water, putting up a fake scaring eagle and throwing rice at it but it keeps coming back to the same branch to do it's dance. There's no nest around. It must be the same bird every morning yeah? How long do these suckers live for? I see a lot of councils provide traps for the Indian Miners and some are considering traps for the Noisy Miners now too (spoke directly to a few councils) - so does this mean there may be people around who would come and kill it for a fee? Sorry if this offends but I'm trying to research all avenues at the moment.
Good luck mate with trying to trap or kill a native species.
And as for the councils,well they specialize in decimating native flora and fauna so stick with them. :)
so how about deterring them ?
I know that in Townsville the council hung rubber snakes in the trees in the mall and had some success with them keeping out Miners and Pidgeons.
Tassie - thanks that's what I'm looking for. Someone else suggested wrapping tinsel around the branch or spraying WD40 on the branch as they don't like the smell. Will look into fake snakes too and welcome further ideas from anyone.
Check the top 40 bird songs & listen to the Fan-tailed Cuckoo.!