so there is a species of bird that lives here that has a song like I’ve never heard before. the song is not the most amazing song I’ve ever heard (although it is really cool, and I love listening to it while I work), but what is amazing is that it sings mostly in the evenings, and I’ve heard several of the same species of bird in different areas of town, and while I can tell that it’s the same bird, the songs are vastly different (in one area, the song could have been recorded and used as 8-bit video game sound effects, it was amazing the types of noises coming out of this bird), and even from the same bird, the songs are somewhat similar (in that songs sung by the same singer are similar), but every time it sings, it’s a new song.
here are some videos of the bird… I apologize for the zoom (and severe camera shake at that zoom level), I was trying to identify it, but like I said, it sings mostly in the evenings, and the light is poor.
after I got my closeup shot, I saw another one in the park during the day, and it sang just long enough for me to locate it in the tree, and I finally got a color view of it’s plumage which is dark black brown with a yellow beak (or at least the underside of the beak, and possibly yellow eyes, but I can’t be certain of that.)
it turns out, that trying to identify a bird with absolutely no ornithological inclinations is pretty much impossible. I’ve been searching Wikipedia (which has the only list of birds in Slovakia that I could find), and have narrowed it down to a few possible culprits (although my search is by no means exhaustive):
- Common Blackbird (this one is the best match so far)
- European Starling
- Common Nightingale (although on further inspection, I’m pretty sure this isn’t it)
anybody else have any ideas?
and chelsea thinks I’m a nutball for posting this, but I think it’s cool. and I like listening to it, I just want to know what it is.
wow, good research. i’m also going with common blackbird, even though I have no effing clue. Kind of interesting though. It’s kinda nerdy, but not really. These are the things you will always remember about slovakia.
Since we have this great new deck – I decided to put up bird feeders because I love to see the different birds and hear them as well – but along with that came the bird seed everywhere and bird dodo – so after filling it a couple of times – I have moved it – can’t see it as close but don’t have to clean it up now either. I enjoyed your bird and I would say the blackbird as well – without really seeing it very well. I’m glad that you are enjoying the little things Benjam.
I’m now 99% sure it’s a Common Blackbird, as I saw several of them in Budapest, up close, and in daylight. So the visual identification is much more complete.