Subsong of a Grey Shrike Thrush
Feb 2nd, 2010 by andrew skeoch
Recently I was out recording cicadas, when I came across a Grey Shrike Thrush giving a lovely rendition of subsong.
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Listen here |
Subsong is not often heard, probably because it is both quiet and only occasional. However summer is the right time of year to hear it, because it is believed to be associated with song learning in juvenile birds. Yes, it is baby talk.
Or so it is thought. I am a little puzzled by my observations though, firstly that the repertoire of subsong seems more developed and diverse than adult song, and that I have seen birds in adult plumage also singing like this.
One of the curiosities I’ve noticed with subsong, is that it is often heard in particularly windy conditions. Why, I have no idea, but I’m not the only one to notice this. Maybe birds like to sing with a mask of background sound (as with the Grey thrush and the cicadas) so they won’t be heard so easily, although who they would be shy of being overheard by is anyone’s guess.
Maybe birds just like ’singin’ in the wind’!
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Here is a Pied Butcherbird singing in central Australia in very blustery conditions. |
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I think I may have heard “subsong” before…but didn’t know that is what it was called. I thought of it as a murmuring, though I can’t remember any detail. These subsongs are lovely – and the butcherbird subsong is exquisite! Maybe birds use subsongs in windy conditions because they do not have to sing loud for the song to carry far away…?
I have a very friendly Grey Shrike-Thrush that comes to visit me literally on and off all day,every day.
He/she? just turned up about 2 months ago and started to feed out of my hand practically straight away.
It now even comes inside my house to say g’day and avail itself of seeds or chopped up meat or live curl grubs I dig up for birds.
I’m very mindful of not over supplying friendly wild birds with too much food,but the Shrike likes to have a nibble at plenty of a variety of stuff and comes and goes after a nibble.
It might be just because it’s winter time but I have yet to hear this Shrikes song or call.
Unlike my Magpie mate who definitely has me at his beck and call.
All other birds that come to visit me,like this Magpie I call Zebe,who comes when called(short for zebra,for his plumage) do their calls but not Shrikey.