Thanks John and Alastair!
In addition, there are also flight calls given by birds on migration which are
useful to identify nocturnal migrants.
Cheers,
Nikolas
----------------
Nikolas Haass
Sydney, NSW
----- Original Message ----
From: John Leonard <>
To: Birding-aus <>
Sent: Thursday, October 4, 2007 8:09:28 PM
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Calls and songs
And calls are innate, that is, even birds brought up in isolation from
any individuals of their species will develop them and use them. But
song has to be learnt, individuals raised in isolation from other
members of their species never learn to sing 'proper' songs, much as
children, if they don't learn to speak by the age of ten or so, never
do learn the full range of language.
Oh, and only passerines have song, non-passerines only have calls.
John Leonard
On 10/4/07, Alastair Smith <> wrote:
> >From my Grad Cert Ornithology notes, avian communication may be divided into
> two components: calls and songs.
>
> Calls
> For many species, calls may be heard throughout the year. They are usually
> short bursts of sound of only a few notes. We may, or may not, recognise a
> pattern in the notes that make up a species' repertoire of calls. A specific
> call may have one of two purposes:
>
> 1. Threat calls are intended to influence the behaviour of other birds
> of the same species.
> 2. Alarm calls warn of the presence of danger.
>
> Songs
> Songs are generally heard only during the breeding period because their
> purpose is usually centred on mating, strengthening of the pair bond, and
> establishing and defending nesting territory.
>
> A song may be either a short or long series of notes that are organised into
> a repeatable pattern. Thus, for the human listener, songs are often easier
> to learn than calls. There are two types of song:
>
> 1. Primary songs are the loud songs that we generally associate with
> bird song. These songs are usually sung only by the male.
> 2. Secondary songs, which some authorities also call whisper songs, are
> the soft sounds that birds utter, perhaps as practice. Whisper songs may be
> heard at dusk or while birds are on the nest. Ornithologists do not appear
> to be certain about the function of these songs.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of Chris Sanderson
> Sent: Thursday, 4 October 2007 3:59 PM
> To: Nikolas Haass
> Cc: Carol Probets;
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Gerygone calls
>
> Hi Nikolas,
>
> You raise an interesting point. I'd be keen to hear what your definitions
> of bird song and bird call are, and why they are so distinctly different. I
> was recently asked this question and struggled to come up with a good
> answer.
>
> Regards,
> Chris
>
> On 10/4/07, Nikolas Haass <> wrote:
> >
> > There is a distict difference between "calls" and "songs"! Sounds like you
> > are talking about songs and not calls?
> >
> > Nikolas
> >
> >
> > ----------------
> > Nikolas Haass
> >
> > Sydney, NSW
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----
> > From: Carol Probets <>
> > To:
> > Sent: Thursday, October 4, 2007 12:19:03 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Gerygone calls
> >
> >
> > Evan and all,
> >
> > I don't agree that the Western Gerygone's call is like an unfinished
> > version of the White-throated. They are definitely quite distinct and
> > recognisable. They start similarly, but the Western sort of goes off
> > on a tangent and as Paul Taylor described, rambles upwards and
> > downwards without the long descending section.
> >
> > The White-throated does sometimes "not finish" their call, at least
> > I've sometimes heard them do just the first few notes and then stop.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Carol
> >
> >
> > >On Thu, Oct 04, 2007 at 09:40:17AM +1000, Evan Beaver wrote:
> > >> Carol,
> > >>
> > >> Interesting that you record a Western Gerygone by call. My (limited)
> > >> understanding is that the Western is the truncated 'falling leaf'
> > >> call; White Throated the one that goes on and on. In your experience
> > > > is the White Throated pretty reliable? I may have heard a WeGe
> > >> recently, but was nervous about it being a lazy White Throat, giving
> > > > up before they were finished.
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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--
John Leonard
Canberra
Australia
www.jleonard.net
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