Hi Andrew and others,
I haven't seen the film, but the black kites down at Werribee in
southern Victoria (where there are a lot of Whistlers) commonly
give a call that sounds very much like the later species.
Strange that for such a common bird the calls have yet to be
worked out.
Happy birding,
Paul
On 6 Jan 2003, at 15:01, Andrew Taylor wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 05, 2003 at 09:58:56PM +1100, Annabel Ashworth/Hoskins
> wrote: > Just a quick comment on the bird call of the black kite in
> > Rabbit-Proof Fence. > > I recently saw a lot of black kites on
> a trip up north, and was > surprised to hear one give a call that
> was virtually the same as a > whistling kite. Maybe the calll in
> the film really did come from a > black kite?
>
> Its a bit of mystery. I believe I've heard a Black Kite make a call
> very similar to the most common Whistling Kite call, at Mataranka (in
> the NT) HANZAB has a sonogram of a Black Kite call from Jabiru which
> also appears very similar. But when this was last discussed I
> discovered some people with significant experience in areas with Black
> Kites haven't heard this call.
>
> In two subsequent trips to the NT I've hoped to hear the call again
> but haven't or at least haven't been able to acertain that its a Black
> Kite making the call. I was starting to wonder if I and the HANZAB
> sound recordist had been mistaken. Other posssibilities are that only
> Kites in some parts of the NT make the call or (as was suggested to
> me) maybe its associated with breeding.
>
> Another puzzling aspect is that the species aren't closely related.
> Is it mimicry rather than coicidence - which would be interesting in a
> raptor.
>
> Andrew Taylor
> Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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Paul McDonald
School of Botany and Zoology
Australian National University
Canberra, A.C.T.
Australia 0200
Fax: +61 02 6125 5573
Mbl: 0410 679 022
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