Mystery night calls are always interesting: my first thought was young
owl as a possibility. After spending consistent time in the vicinity of
a young powerful owl over the last 8 months Colin's description of the
call struck a chord with me. And same with the confirmed explanation:
here in Kotara near the flying fox colony the repertoire of calls has
shifted. I've probably heard the calls of some of the bats that end up
flying over the lake near Colin and Mick. Some of the calls of late
have stood out, sharper chirruping, or some blend between a chirrup and
a screech. The pitch of the calls has made me think some of the flying
foxes are distressed: I assume many are carrying young at the moment: or
perhaps the young are back at the maternal roost and there are
communication issues? If I had some decent sound recording gear I could
spot you a sample: the call has definitely grabbed my attention and I've
also been wondering what's up with the flying fox... What sort of sound
gear might I need: any suggestions for capture of broadcast quality
grey-headed flying fox calls?
In any case the owl, about 9 months of age now, still bears the sharp
begging call: voice hasn't cracked yet it seems. Wonder how long that
takes? Perhaps the owl's a factor in distressed flying foxes around
these parts. After watching the Ninox parents' deliveries of food,
distressed flying foxes make perfect sense. Side dish of choice for the
powerful owls around these parts is grey headed flying fox.
Craig Williams
>>> Colin Driscoll <> 12/02/04 9:51 PM >>>
Thanks Mick but mystery solved- I just managed to get a spotlight onto
it
briefly and it's a flying fox behaving quite strangely.
So that's the next puzzle- what is it up to.
Cheers
Colin
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Todd
> Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 9:41 PM
> To: Colin Driscoll; Net. Au
> Subject: Re: [BIRDING-AUS] Mystery night call
>
>
> Hello Colin,
>
> Its not a young Boobook Owl is it? We've got a couple of young
recently
> fledged Boobooks roosting in our backyard every day for the last
> week. They
> make calls similar to what you are describing, being louder when they
are
> in flight. They head off with their parents every evening
> chirupping away.
> They're getting a pretty hard time during the day from Noisy Miners
and
> Grey Butcherbirds.
>
> You're probably only a couple of km from where we are up above
Toronto.
>
> Cheers
>
> Mick Todd
> Toronto, NSW
>
>
> At 09:22 PM 2/12/2004, Colin Driscoll wrote:
> >Hi all
> >
> >I first heard this bird before sunrise this morning and again tonight
at
> >9:00. It has been flying circuits over my place at the edge of Lake
> >Macquarie near Toronto- in the dark and fairly fast. The call is like
a
> >slightly coarse chirruping sounding a bit corella-like and a bit like
a
> >small falcon.
> >
> >What do you reckon??
> >
> >Cheers
> >
> >Colin Driscoll
> >
> >
> >
> >-----------------------------------------------
> >Colin Driscoll
> >Environmental Biologist
> >PO Box 1047 Toronto NSW 2283
> >Australia
> >
> >ph/fax +61 2 49598016
> >mob +61 438773029
> >
> >------------------------------------------------
> >This email and attachments have been checked by KAV
> >
> >
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>
> Mick Todd
> Toronto, NSW, Australia
>
>
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