Well, as you all know, the post-before-this detailed a drastic hoodwink at my very own front door. Here's a handy recap ... Most nights before climbing the Wooden Hill To Bedfordshire I stand at the front door and just listen. It isn't as rewarding as it used to be.... owls vanishingly scarce now, of any sort. Whimbrel was a possibility, but it was a bit early for them. So ..what did I hear ? I wish I knew .... here's what I wrote in my special Bird-Spotting Spotters Book, free with the Bunty ( subscribers only.) 10pm ..... strange bird flying around fairly high up ( I think.... I never saw it) , and its call was, as they say ,"unfamiliar" .... which is both good and bad. Bad, because I might never find out what the blasted thing was, and good because if I do find out it might be a good find, maybe even a "House Tick" ... The call had a squeaky, badly-oiled-bicycle sound, variously described by me as .. a very thin ,faint "Kweek-kweek" or "Kwik-kwik" ... and sometimes more like " skweek-skweek" .... The Significant Otter suggested Tawny Owl, understandably, but their calls are far more robust and far-carrying. So.. what do you do with that ? I could, I suppose, make a shortlist of what it might be ... ... and then spend hours and hours listening to recordings of lots and lots of birds. .... what I should have had at the ready was this .... 934-tick-tootling-and-treecreepers.html ..... so far I've ruled out Goldcrest, Carrier Pigeon and Bittern. So ...... what have I found out so far .. ?? ... first up, I you-tubed various relevant bird-call videos ... nocturnal birds, calls of waders, that sort of thing ... to no avail. A total lack of avail, actually. So then I perused my bird book. And I made a list. We like lists. So ... here's what I found .... I assumed it was some sort of wader, for some reason or other. Or maybe, an Owl..... or not. Here's the various noises that were " somewhere near" to what I heard .. sort of .... there are elements of "barrel-scraping" in there ... .. in no tarpricular order [1] a ringing "weet, tluitt, weet-weet" [2] "tleea-tleea-tleea" ( not a top candidate) [3] When flushed, a shrill, piping " twee-see-see" [4] Usual note "tew-tew-tew", a repeated ,scolding "tyip" etc [5] A long, shrill, "keeek", repeated when flushed. [6] A short, high, nasal "tree" ( rather a long shot) [7] A thin, mouse-like "jeet" ( an even longer shot) [8] A quick, staccato " tuk-a-tuk" ( no mention of squeakiness at all) [9] A high, sneezing "tsiwick" (hmmm ... possible , slightly) So ... I've done all the hard work ( especially as it's got me nowhere) so now it is your turn. Here's the 9 candidate birds ... your mission is to work out which is which.... Common Sandpiper Wood Sandpiper Woodcock White-rumped Sandpiper Greenshank Dunlin Turnstone Long-billed Dowitcher Green Sandpiper But really, none of them fits very well ... where's that squeakiness/squeakyness for a start. And some of them are rather scarce in the Flintshire area. Remarkably so. BUT ...here's a song that does fit ... and here's another ... Wir sind Helden ... Die Nacht
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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