See earlier notes. This morning. Clutching my
tape recorder I waited for this to start from 0425. At 0435 it began some
distance away, the source being located 200m away at the top of a yellowbox
near the corner of Carnegie and Finniss. After a minute I realised that
bird was alternating its ‘song’ with another one down the hill
towards Sprent St. Then ‘my’ bird started up back in
Brockman. I returned there to find it in the same tree as previously, and
while recording it could hear two other birds in the distance, all three
calling in sequence. All birds finished by 0450. I then played some
of its own voice back to my bird and it started up again.
It appears to me (1) that this is the ‘uncurrawonglike’
song referred to in HANZAB; (2) that it typically lasts 5-10
minutes and is specific to a particular phase of twilight; (3) that it is
made from a station in the nesting territory.
Given the number of contiguous PC nesting territories across
Canberra and the far-carrying quality of the sound I think it likely that
anyone awake in the (at least inner south) suburbs at about 0440 AEST, with an
open window, would be within range of it. gd
