Unknown night bird, Kent, England (1 Viewer)

romillyh

romillyh

• Jul 8, 2007

• #1

Anyone any idea what this bird is? It's only active at night and shares territory with a pair of Tawny Owls. Location is the southern Weald in Kent. In this recording it interrupts a Nightingale that was singing continuously all night. Some more details with the mp3 on my webpage:

http://www.godsownclay.com/Recordings/recordings04.html

or here's a direct link to the mp3 (about 30 s/650 kb):

http://www.godsownclay.com/Recordings/Resources/mystery_bird.mp3

Thanks,

romillyh

 

nickderry

C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.

• Jul 8, 2007

• #2

It sounds like a moorhen.

 

bitterntwisted

Graham Howard Shortt

• Jul 8, 2007

• #3

Agreed. That's a Moorhen - Bill Oddie said on Springwatch that they only make that call at night.

Graham

 

timwootton

Well-known member

• Jul 8, 2007

• #4

Good call (excuse the pun). Isn't it a flight call, as well?

 

romillyh

romillyh

• Jul 9, 2007

• #5

thank you

Thanks for the id -- seems there's general agreement on this! I'd posted the query on Nature Recordists the day before but as initially there was no id over there I posted here. ID in no time!! However someone on Nature Recordists eventually came up with an informative reply, part of which I quote below.

"This is a Moorhen. Rails on migration or dispersing do so at night and perform calls trying to contact others. Since quite some birders do not know these calls well and were wondering what such UFO-birds might be, some Dutch birders have in the 1960's considered Long-eared Owl an option. This tale went on and on and nowadays is difficult to get eradicated. This applies to both Moorhen and Coot, your bird was a Moorhen. ..."

Thanks also to all those who were kind enough to listen to the clip. At least there's now a recording available of the night call of the UFO-bird!

romillyh

 

KnockerNorton

Well-known member

• Jul 9, 2007

• #6

They also have a nocturnal songflight, in which they make calls like this as they flying around the territory. I always think they sound much more like young GSW than owls!

 

romillyh

romillyh

• Jul 9, 2007

• #7

Poecile said

>> They also have a nocturnal songflight, in which they make calls like this as they flying around the territory. <<

Can you expand on that as the point is this doesn't seem to be a migrating or dispersing bird -- it's been there for three years, at least during May when I'm most often out nights, so there seems to be a "territory". And yes, it does seem to be a nocturnal flight song as I've heard it making this call as it flies over the fields. That was what it was doing in the clip, when it just happened to pass in front of the dish. At other times it's perched -- it seems to have a roost in a tree some way behind where I record at a Tawny Owl nestbox and I've heard it there many, many times. Always at night though.

romillyh

 

KnockerNorton

Well-known member

• Jul 9, 2007

• #8

Not much more to say really - Moorhens and other rails make nocturnal songflights, in which they circuit their territory at about tree-height or higher, giving regular calls as if in some kind of territorial song. This is during the breeding season, not during migration or dispersal (when they may well make other calls but I'm not clued up on that).

 

romillyh

romillyh

• Jul 9, 2007

• #9

There's now a second, longer clip up that tends to confrim the Moorhen id and shows there are/were two birds. It was made about two hours before the one with the Nightingale, at about midnight. Here's a direct link to the mp3 (~1 Mb, 48 sec):

http://www.godsownclay.com/Recordings/Resources/unknown from style midnight.mp3

Webpage in case you want to read notes is:

http://www.godsownclay.com/Recordings/recordings04.html

Odd thing is there's no open water in the immediate area ...

romillyh

 

KnockerNorton

Well-known member

• Jul 9, 2007

• #10

romillyh said:

Odd thing is there's no open water in the immediate area ...

romillyh

Click to expand...

How immediate is immediate? They'll nest in anything from a damp ditch or a garden pond upwards, so open water's not a prerequisite.

 

romillyh

romillyh

• Jul 9, 2007

• #11

nearby water

You caught me out telling a small fib there! I've checked with my OS map and Google satellite imagery and there IS a small garden pond 350 m north of where they roost. This is within what I believe to be their "territory". There's also a small stream 600 m (nearest point) over to the west, though whether this flows in dry weather I wouldn't be sure -- it's a small affair. I haven't heard them over there. Another nearer stream in their patch is marked on the OS but I know for a fact it almost never has water. Very nearby (75 m from the roost) there's a small hole about 5 m across that fills in wet weather (like recently) but I know they don't use it as I pass it frequently

Anyway, there you go. Guess they must use the garden pond! Or maybe just the damp ditch you suggest.

romillyh

 

S

Steven Astley

Well-known member

• Jul 9, 2007

• #12

Moorhens don't like open water they prefer vegetated areas they can occupy areas that wouldn't show up on OS maps, like waterlogged fields or areas, drainage ditches. I have seen lots of them together in fields with no apparent water close by.

 

romillyh

romillyh

• Jul 9, 2007

• #13

useful link

Just for the record, as this thread's probably reaching the end of its useful life, here's a link to an informative page about the confusion these night-time calls by Moorhens and Coots have caused. The discussion is mainly about Coots, which apparently also have a distinctive night flying call. In the Netherlands these calls have been mistakenly attributed to Long-eared Owls. The page is by Rombout de Wijs, who kindly provided the info in message 5. Here's the link:

http://www.home.zonnet.nl/myotis/owlcoot.htm

There are five recordings of the Coot's night call, including one made during the daytime when the bird could be positively ideed.

romillyh