Somerset Ornithological Society - Bird News
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Unusual call. Any ideas?

This morning 0845, I was listening to a call that I could not recall hearing before. It was coming from an area of trees and scrub in a valley of mainly pasture. The bird seemed to be mobile as the direction and volume increased and decreased over the five minutes it was calling. It is always difficult to describe calls as it is very subjective to the listener, but here goes.
The call was loud and a single note of about a second, with a two second gap between. It was similar to that that you might get from a recorder, but not as reedy and quite flat. It seemed to be calling from trees and possibly in flight between them. It gave the impression from the volume of being quite a large bird (blackbird or larger). Despite a prolonged search in the area, it was not seen and was not heard to call again. Anybody any ideas?

Re: Unusual call. Any ideas?

http://www.xeno-canto.org/200280

play that

Re: Unusual call. Any ideas?

Interesting! If it does turn out to be a Scops Owl I'm sure we would all be interested in hearing from Paddy about the exact location. But before we get too ahead of ourselves, Little Owl can also make some similar noises,and is perhaps more likely to be calling in daytime (as well as being rather commoner).

Even if it is 'just' a Little Owl, we are looking for extra records of this species this year, especially from new locations, to try to gauge whether the national decline in the species is reflected in Somerset (as it appears to be from Atlas results). The Hawk and Owl Trust is also conducting a national Little Owl count this year, for similar reasons, so they would also like to receive records.

Re: Unusual call. Any ideas?

i was being somewhat tongue in cheek, after the 'serin' tbh lol but of the two speices it fits scops better, tho prob something totally different, you know calls and descriptions etc

Re: Unusual call. Any ideas?

Seems slightly presumptuous to guess (as if I'd know); but it took me ages (and much "head-scratching") to realise that Ravens have an incredible vocal range, some of their calls perhaps matching your description.

All the best, Chris Weedon

Re: Unusual call. Any ideas?

Thanks for that everybody. Unfortunately not a Scops. The style of the call is very similar, the right sort of pitch and length of note and time between them, however the note is fuller. probably quite a lot louder, and from the clip that you directed me to, probablycarries further.
It has not called since my original post.
Thanks again anyway

Paddy