Nightjar. 2019

[Marbzy]

Now, then. It's an unusually quiet evening out there

If you're looking for peculiar images, go back to ca. 19:28:30 to see a reflection of the camera lens in the camera lens itself (unfortunately, I don't store my photos anywhere public (yet), sorry).

[Fleur]

19:28:30

[Marbzy]

Thank you, Fleur, for the image

6 August

After a quiet evening came a fairly quiet morning, with just a few noises from (presumably) our nightjars - and even these sounds can mostly be heard only with the volume set to near maximum:
03:51:26 whistling (till 03:51:54)
03:54:02 whistling (till 03:54:15)
03:56:22 churring (vibrations can be detected rather than actual churring)
03:57:04 a whistle (?)
03:57:19 whistling (till 03:57:47)
03:58:44 a whistle
03:58:55 a whistle
04:17:30 a whistle
04:30:25 three whistles
04:37:06 churring (till 04:38:05, with pauses)
And then, all of sudden, at 04:51:01 comes a surprise late whistle.

[Fleur]

21:09 Cranes call far in the distance

22:07 Call and singing Nightjar
22:09 calling 2x , closer to the mic

[Marbzy]

7 August

The starting time for this report is 03:25:00:

03:25:10 whistling
03:25:40 even clearer whistling, accompanied by some churring
03:26:20 lots of whistling (at least two birds) with a bit of churring
03:27:07 more of the same, but with no churring
03:27:46 very clear whistling, followed by some churring and more whistling till 03:28:15
03:30:46 lots of whistling - from 03:31:00 it's hard to keep a count on the number of birds whistling (two seems the absolute minimum, three or four more likely); this continues for more than two minutes, with a bit of churring (first around 03:32:40, then around 03:33:15, then again at 03:33:40, and 03:33:55) and plenty of whistling mainly in between churrs; around 03:34:30 intensity drops, though churring (vibrations) are detectable throughout 03:35
03:36:20 clear whistling with some churring still in the background
03:37:43 a series of whistles
03:41:18 two whistles and a churr
03:49:51 a series of whistles (there is a drop in intensity after 03:50:00), fades completely after 03:50:10
03:56:30 a single whistle
03:58:10 a single whistle
03:59:30 three whistles
04:00:00 the screen goes black
04:00:18 two whistles
04:00:50 three whistles
04:01:14 six whistles, progressively closer
04:01:30 three whistles, very close to the mic
04:01:42 four-five whistles, progressively further
04:07:00 a single whistle
04:07:20 several whistling calls far away from the mic (this series continues into 04:08)
04:08:47 three whistles (and possible churring in the background)
04:09:05 a longer series of whistles from a distant source
04:10:24 a single whistle
04:17:20 a little whistling
04:18:45 a series of clear whistles
04:19:10 whistling in the foreground, churring in the background
04:20:15 a few whistles
04:21:53 a couple of whistles
04:24:54 a series of three or four whistles

The nightjars have probably not made their final call for the night yet, but 04:25:00 (light barely breaking through) is the cut-off point for my report. Gotta run.

[sigge]

Marzby

Me started watching later.
04:34- calling
04:41- distant playing
04:44 Robins start calling
04:46- calling for a few minutes
05:00 full daylight and a wagtail fly by

It's just amazing to hear nightjars spinning in August, never thought of that
(yeah, I live on about the same latitude on the other side of the lake)

[sigge]

19:53- A Willow Tit family with funny sounds
20:05 Greater Spotted Woodpecker in view and young Willow Warbler trying to sing
20:10 Spotted Nutcracker calling and Mistle Thrush
20:37 Goldcrest singing
+ many others

[Marbzy]

sigge. Thanks heaps

It's a shame the best part of the woodpecker's visit has not been stored in the archive - unfortunately, there's a gap there from (roughly) 20:02:30 till 20:55:00. The star woodpecker was around for quite a bit, from 20:01:40 till 20:07:40 (the little guy darts of view like crazy), in case anyone has access to a recording of the WP's cameo and is willing to upload it

Are we getting the silent treatment from the nightjars tonight? Or is there something going on a little further afield? Yup, there's a few whistles at around 22:12:20.

Two calls very close to the microphone at 22:21:04. The next three at 22:21:13 already from a much greater distance. It's kind of statistically irritating how these birdies have managed to stay out of cam view for a few weeks now.

[Fleur]

August 8
Good morning

Here is the Greater Spotted Woodpecker from last night. Thanks to sigge and Marbzy

[Fleur]

8:43 Cranes call

[Fleur]

9:23


Apparently they have looked around. At 9:32 it can be heard that the car starts again out of view and drives on.

[Marbzy]

Thanks, Fleur. Great work!

Just to confirm: a cam search was carried out between 08:09 and 08:21.

[sigge]

Here is the Greater Spotted Woodpecker from last night. Thanks to sigge and Marbzy

Wow, thank you Fleur
It's a young woodpecker with red on the head and fooling around not knowing what to look for..

In your video there is also a Hazel Grouse family in the background with wing sounds, one could be seen flying to the right at 20:05:47 or 1:11 in the video


Nightjars playing this morning too:
03:52- sporadic calling by two birds
04:50 playing
04:53 playing and wing claps
-05:01 playing, (yes they passed the 5 am barrier )
05:05 jets start playing around and a Spotted Nutcracker loudly complains -05:20

[Marbzy]

sigge!

Here's my (not so) regular noise report for the period 03:36-05:10 (highlights in bold, as usual):

03:36:02 two whistles
03:36:15 three whistles
03:36:26 a longer series of whistles (churring - on and off - in the background, till 03:36:56) - the whistles are very clear, the churring faint
03:37:04 more whistling till 03:37:20
03:40:11 a few whistles and a brief churr (faint)
03:42:22 two clear whistles and a "grumble"
03:42:32 two more whistles
03:42:43 whistling from two sources for some 15"
03:43:16 a loud "angry" whistle followed by some faint whistles, a churr, then more faint whistles; a dog joins in, barking, at around 03:44:00, whistling (mostly faint) continues to be heard well into 03:44
03:45:16 a whistle
03:45:22 a whistle
03:45:29 two whistles
03:46:21 a whistle and a churr, more churring follows
03:47:18 a churr and a couple of whistles
03:52:30 three faint whistles
03:52:50 three faint whistles
03:53:04 a whistle
03:55:31 three whistles
03:55:42-03:56:03 two nightjars whistling, one in a much lower croak-like tone, the other in a higher clear tone
03:56:20 a faint churr
04:00:00 darkness fills the screen
04:08:15 two whistles
04:20:18 a single whistle
04:26:51 three low-tone whistles
04:27:15 faint whistling
04:32:24 four loud whistles
04:41:39 four whistles
04:42:05-04:42:16 a series of loud whistles
04:43:06 a whistle
04:43:12 one loud whistle soon followed by four more
04:45:35 two faint whistles
04:45:53 two faint whistles
04:46:13-04:46:36 another series of whistles
04:47:23 a whistle (?)
04:48:12 a series of whistles
04:48:32-04:48:55 another series
04:49:15 two more whistles
04:49:24 two more whistles
04:49:36 two more whistles and a churr
04:49:47 two more whistles
04:49:54 a series of whistles begins, a few seconds later another nightjar joins in with churring (the other keeps whistling) - this goes on for more than a minute until a bit of good old wing clapping is heard at 04:51:06
04:51:11 two nightjars whistling, one of them persists, the other seems to turn to churring



04:52:24 more whistling from two nightjars (another one possibly churring in the background)
04:53:00 churring, 04:53:08 louder churring, with whistling in the background, probably from two birds (see 04:53:25)
simultaneous churring and whistling continue till 04:54:45
04:55:12 four whistles
04:55:41 four whistles
04:56:14 two whistles
04:56:36 three whistles
04:56:49 six whistles
04:57:27 five whistles
04:58:14 one whistle
04:58:30 three whistles, then more whistling and a churr (two birds making noises)
04:59:19 five loud whistles
04:59:40 a faint whistle, then two more (?)
05:00:14 a suspicion of a churr
05:00:27 a strong suspicion of a churr
05:00:42 a churr, definitely
05:01:52 a churr, as clear as day
05:02:40 a whistle
05:08:52 oh, dear: that sounded like a car alarm going off (no nightjars involved, of course)

[Fleur]

at 5:08 it's a call from a bird. I don't know what it is

[Fleur]

8:08 zooming



16:42 zooming

strange,...no sound sorry.

[sigge]

at 5:08 it's a call from a bird. I don't know what it is

Heh, it's a Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) complaining on the air traffic noise.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_nutcracker

[Fleur]

wow, nice Bird.
Thanks sigge

[Marbzy]

Heh, it's a Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) complaining on the air traffic noise.

Wow, sigge! Impressive! You continue to bewilder me with your expertise in birdcall recognition!
That call did sound as though it'd been made by a corvid, but I admit to a total ignorance of the species you've named. Until this afternoon, that is.

Thanks

[sigge]

Oh, I'm certainly not an expert on bird calls.
I'm interested in Spotted Nutcracker since they are having a hard time to cope with common forestry policies