Let’s jump right in with a tricky one! This is a juvenile begging vociferously and nearly continuously from its parents, in the coastal forests near Mtunzini in KwaZulu-Natal. In the background you can hear Sombre Greenbuls, various sunbirds and the gentle lapping of the nearby surf. The bird was fluttering around in the mid-stratum, about 2 m above the ground.

Not that much to go on here, I’m afraid. This is a mechanical sound, not produced with the vocal chords. The bird was recorded early in the morning in dry, mature woodland near the Crocodile River in southern Kruger National Park. The species has various other distinctive calls, but in isolation, this sound could be anything. Sounds big though…

A pair of these birds were making these loud ratchet-type calls just before going to sleep one night at Mjejane, a private reserve between Malelane and Komatipoort in the Lowveld. They roosted in a thicket on an old termite mound.

Last winter, a pair of these birds were nesting in a woodland clearing near Kruger National Park. I snuck up to the nest entrance and hid the sound recorder nearby, leaving it on record. After a few minutes the bird returned and continued nest construction.

I encoutered this bird while hiking at high altitude in the Drakensberg in KwaZulu-Natal. However, I also see it on a daily basis on the West Coast where I live. The clip starts with a few single calls, and ends with a single song sequence from this male bird.

Another recording from Mjejane along the Crocodile River in the Lowveld. These are rather secretive birds that usually stay close to dry thickets. They spend most of their time on the ground though. These soft calls were given by pair at dusk.

These sharp calls are from a very common and widespread woodland bird. Its normal calls are loud and distinctive (though variable). I recorded this from a bird foraging unobtrusively in the canopy of a Combretum tree at Vaalkop Dam in North West Province.

Expect the unexpected! One morning I woke up to this juvenile bird sitting on my lawn, begging loudly. It is a species that I had never even seen in the garden, yet it must have recently bred somewhere in the general vicinity. Tame, inquisitive and persistent!

The begging call of this juvenile is a far cry from the loud and distinctive calls of adults! The juvenile walks behind its parents for hours on end, uttering this irritating shrill sound. Recorded in Pretoria.

Believe it or not, but a pretty straightforward one. This is the typical alarm call of this species – although I suspect they also use it as a contact call or in some other context. A mellow, relaxed, pleasant sound, much like the bird itself. Bushveld.

A smallish insectivorous bird that is a typical member of bushveld bird parties. Like all the others in its family, its vocalisations are simple whistles and raspy elements, often interspersed with bill snaps.

When I was still based in Pretoria, these were common garden birds. I recorded this lone individual by sticking the microphone out of my office window. Normally the species performs a pleasant duet – this sounds rather forlorn.

This common, widespread and geographically variable little undergrowth passerine has a range of vocalisations. This fast, yapping, almost raptor-like call is unusual. Recorded on a scrubby, lightly wooded slope in the mountains of Mpumalanga.

When I first heard this call I struggled to pin it down to a species. Subsequently I have discovered that this partly terrestrial, partly arboreal, partly rupicolous bird actually frequently utters this sound. Recorded in the Drakensberg, but can be heard almost anywhere.

This unusual call (from a common species) was apparently recorded for the first time in May 2015, and only recently described in the literature. I was lucky enough to record my own version in tall trees lining the Crocodile River in southern Kruger National Park.