Subsong in my Lockdown neighbour

By |2023-01-26T13:41:34+02:00January 24th, 2023|Birds, FIREFINCH, Videos, Vocalisations|

To celebrate our 50th FIREFINCH post, you can read the full Dawn Chorus article here. It's about a very talented friend I met during Lockdown. This post is all about the audio, so check out the Podcast version or follow along on the individual play bars. Enjoy!

Sharing is Scaring: mimicry in Black-bellied Starlings

By |2020-05-16T15:20:07+02:00August 29th, 2015|Birds|

If you're a Black-bellied Starling and you want to outcompete your frenemies to hook up with a GF, the most chillaxing way is to do it vocally. Talk the talk, gansta, by copying all the birds you hear around you, obvs. I try my hand at teen slang, and analysis of the vocal repertories of Black-bellied Starlings - possibly Africa's most under-rated mimic. If you're too lazy to read the post, just listen to the audio clip where I isolated mimicked phrases from 11 other species in a 22s recording. Peace!