Hi all
and particularly those familiar with Alice Springs calls;-)
Chris Benesh of Field Guides Inc was in Alice recently and has recorded a bird he is unsure of.
One well known Alice birder (hi Chris W) thought, amongst other calls, it may be the piped music from the Aurora lounge. Before I post that on Facebook and take the proverbial out of Chris B for ever, he has asked if anyone on Birding Aus can identify it. I suspect he is ready for the ridicule if it is the piped music but if anyone can help then that would be terrific.
We have explored White-plumed and Singing h/e, Yellow-throated Miner and others… and are still open to any of these.
See his note below and his link to xeno-canto….. (itself a tremendous resource).
Very best
Alan
I agree with Anthony – WPHE. They are one of the most common birds around Alice and call at all times of the day. The mystery call matches, to a certain extent, race leilavalensis of WPHE – the central Australian race.
As far as I know, Great Bowerbird is not present in Alice Springs. Western Bowerbird is, but not in the town centre. I do not think these calls are bowerbird calls at all – bowerbirds are far more raucous and less tuneful than this bird.
Interestingly, Ruth, Tim Dolby and I were sitting in the lounge of the Aurora recently, having a cleansing ale, when all of a sudden Tim said, there’s a Grey Fantail here! Within a couple of seconds, we realised that the piped “music” (bird calls, in actual fact), contained SE Australian birds!
Walking through the Kings Creek walk at Kings Canyon, we heard a Red-browed Pardalote calling. We couldn’t get onto it, so I thought I’d try call playback. Within seconds I was surrounded by WPHE that refused to leave me, even though I only played the call for a few seconds. Other tourists were amazed to see these creatures up so close and started calling me the bird man! I suspect that if I’d sat still, they would probably have landed on me.
Firstly thanks to all who have responded to me, I have forwarded on notes to Chris.
Lloyd, this seems best yet and certainly something I hadn’t considered which is silly really as Western Bowerbirds breed in Olive Pink BG’s!
Great stuff from all, many thanks…. from myself and Chris Benesh.
Don’t stop with the suggestions though;-)
Alan
Sounds very much like a bowerbird to me – the Great Bowerbird does something similar at times. There seems to be calls which sound very much like that of Magpie-lark mixed in. When you put this up on the screen and analyse it, the latter seems to be part of the whole call – mimicry along with the more strident calls? The more I look at and hear it, the more it seems like a bowerbird.
Lloyd Nielsen, Mt Molloy, Nth Qld ===============================
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Hi Alan, at that time in a morning its obviously a dawn chorus call which in many instances are unrecognizable to the normal calls we usually hear, these calls are rarely included on sound recordings so are not commonly known. I wouldn’t have a clue on this one but if I had to pick I would say YTM IM sure its not a White-plumed.—– Original Message —– Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 11:49 AM
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