Of interest to the Ornithologist among us.

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grumpydad

Well-Known Member
It has just occurred to me that a few weeks ago while I was riding over the mountain road towards home, I was followed for a short while by a bird with a rather strange yet very distinctive call, anyway I was wracking my brains trying to match the call to the image I had in my head, I couldn't see the bird as it was getting on for 7pm and pitch black, anyway the only one that kept coming to mind was a Nightjar, which is ok except, they don't usually get to the UK until April, so March 11th is a bit out:cold:. I don't think you can mistake the call for anything else, unless you know different ^_^ https://xeno-canto.org/359355 and when you're on the mountain in the dark that noise certainly makes you pick up the pace a bit sharpish :bicycle::laugh:
 

Gwylan

Veteran
Location
All at sea⛵
Look for the app Merlin.
Samples the bird call and suggests what it is.
 

Dave 123

Legendary Member
Photo Winner
Are you sure you didn’t have a few jars beforehand on that night?

As you say it’s usually much later on that they arrive and start calling, but that’s not to say it was an early bird…. I’m just off to google

The best it came up with was APRIL.

Who knows, you could be right.
 

Cathryn

Legendary Member
Look for the app Merlin.
Samples the bird call and suggests what it is.

I got this app at the weekend. Utterly obsessed. What a beautiful free app.
 

geocycle

Legendary Member
Half of bird watching is anticipating what you might see in a given habitat. If you then know something of bird behaviour you can more easily spot tell tale clues that help you train the binoculars. Merlin really helps alert you to what might be around so you can watch out for it. It’s particularly good for birds with complex songs like warblers. Im currently trying to remember the difference between a chaffinch and a willow warbler that I find similar apart from the endings.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
When I had a job the vagaries of shift working often had me cycling home through t'countryside at 2am I'd often see a magnificent white owl perched on the same gatepost. I'd breeze by 6 odd feet away and it didn't seem the care.
 
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