Mystery swamp call (Altona, Vic)

[Drew Davison <>]

Peter, I have only heard the bird once (although admittedly, I haven’t been there since) but it wasn’t moving much, if it moved at all, while we were listening to it for more than 5 minutes – even when I was standing right next to the spot we thought it was calling from.

 

Drew Davison

 

From:
Sent: Saturday, 9 January 2021 1:22 PM
To:
Cc: ; m("hotmail.com","danmantle");"> Daniel Mantle;
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Mystery swamp call (Altona, Vic)

 

Thanks, Drew. This bird was calling like this from roughly the same location in the reeds on three different days. Was your bird stationary, or moving?

 

I'm curious to know if others have heard the call, even if they didn't know what it was. If I've heard it a few times in my limited birding experience then surely others have.

 

I'm also wondering how far one has to go to consider a recording positively identified. Do we have to wait till someone actually sees a bird making this call?

 

Peter Shute

 

On Sat, 9 Jan 2021 at 15:50, Drew Davison <> wrote:

Hello Peter,

 

I have heard this call and recorded it. I recorded the call at Victoria Dam, Perth, Western Australia on the 7^th of November.

Myself, DanMantle and Plaxy Barratt (who both also heard the call – CC’ed here) have been discussing and comparing it, and we believe that it is a Spotless Crake as that is the best match. We didn’t see the bird.

You are correct that it isn’t described in field guides, apps etc. We can only find a very limited number of calls on eBird/Macaulay Library and xeno-canto that are a close match – that is why we believe it is a Spotless Crake.

 

Hopefully someone has seen a Spotless Crake (or otherwise) making this call to confirm it.

 

Regards,

Drew Davison

 

 

From:
Sent: Saturday, 9 January 2021 10:06 AM
To:
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Mystery swamp call (Altona, Vic)

 

Just wondering if anyone here has heard this call before:

https://www.xeno-canto.org/613468

 

It's the "mir" call you can hear every few seconds. I suspect it's a Spotless Crake, and found one other similar recording on Xeno-canto labelled as such, but this call isn't described in the field guides, and isn't in any apps or the BOCA recordings.

 

I've heard it before, perhaps 5 times over the last 10 years in various swamps. I'd like to know if others have heard it, and if anyone knows for sure if it's a Spotless Crake.

 

Peter Shtue

 

 

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