Some time ago we had some postings about winter projects. Before
winter becomes a distant memory I thought I would share one of mine
since it contains some nice sounds plus a bit of a mystery.
The "normal" race of the Bullfinch in Western Europe is Pyrrhula
pyrrhula europea. During some winters Europe experiences invasions of
the "northern" Bullfinch P.p.pyrrhula, a race which spreads north and
east across Russia. 2004 was particularly noted for this, and it was
observed that many of these birds gave a distinctive "trumpet" call,
after the fact that it sounded like a child's plastic trumpet.
(Bullfinches are normally rather quiet birds, giving a gentle "plew"
contact call, and a very low "creaking" song reminiscent of a badly
oiled gate hinge !)
Hearing quite distinctive sounds from Bullfinches in the Jura
mountains this winter I set out to see if they were "trumpeters".
What I found surprised me. Comparing my recordings with some made by
other people in 2004, and a reference recording of the trumpet call
from the Komi Republic, it seems it was not the trumpet call I was
hearing, but more a distinctive Bullfinch song for which I have not
yet been able to find any reference material. Now the snow has gone
and spring is in full swing I am no longer hearing these songs and I
am left wondering whether I recorded winter visiting "northern"
P.p.pyrrhula, or whether it is simply the song of the European race
P.p.europea which has not yet found its way to the "regular"
collections ?
In message #27413 Tero Linjama shared some recordings from Finland
which had a Bullfinch reminiscent of mine, there the race should be
the "northern" one. As the breeding season advances I am still
looking to find out what my remaining Bullfinches are singing !
Can anyone help shed some light on what I may have recorded ? Some of
my samples can be found here (apologies to anyone who hears me
gasping for breath in the snow!):
http://cjhails.googlepages.com/bullfinch
Thanks for your interest.
Chris
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