nature notes

bigyetiman said:
That looks good Rick, good luck with ID
There is a great site Xeno Canto which has worldwide birdsong on it, which can be useful for listening to all the calls of birds.
Do let us know what the bird is
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Wow! Xeno Canto - you can bet I bookmarked that!
I'm strictly a (almost) beginner when it comes to identifying birds - by sight or sound. But have realised that I can hear far more than I can see and most of what I hear I can't recognise (other than the lovely blackbirds, crows, mallards, coot, moorhens, sparrow, greenfinch, magpies - all the urbanish and relatively bold characters.)
The main problem with song (etc.) is narrowing the search of possibilities. I've grabbed the audio from https://www.british-birdsongs.uk/ and bought a cuckoo whistle as a thank you (looking forward to that) in order to try to map out things without the pleasure of going for regular local walks with a handy guru!

However, it is very refreshing and totally absorbing to go out with no other purpose than to listen!

I think I can do it but its taking some setting of categories, not to fully describe the song/call etc. but to narrow the search somewhat.
Obviously, also seeing the bird (even a glimpse at a distance) would help a great deal!
(Nerd alert! Sensible people wouldn't do it this way!)

Currently working on 12 'radicles':
Rattle – rapid amplitude modulation
Short packets – phrases or notes < 1s
Long packets – phrases or notes > 1s
Modulation – frequency modulation within notes
Chatterbox – complexly verbose / high variation in phrases or phrase components
Harmonics – sharp and distinct harmonics
Broadband blurring – fuzzy wide spectrum harmonics
Hysteresis – tone switching within a note at a change of vector
Flags – tone sweeps or steady notes with smooth amplitude envelopes
Hoop/Gutter – sinusoidal changes in vector
Peak/Valley – triangular changes in vector
Bottle notes – spreading frequency close to a note (usually with a smooth envelope)
Centre f – average frequency of highest amplitude
 
Wouldn't know how to start unravelling that Rick.
You could take a little recorder with you to tape bird song and then you can play it back at home. OH is brilliant at bird song and calls, I just don't seem to retain it.
One day she stopped dead by a reed bed and said listen and an odd assortment of birds seemed to be singing from one spot, it was a Marsh Warbler which mimics other birds, not only British but anything it has heard on hols in Africa, guaranteed to confuse the unwary. It was logged as doing over 30 different birds songs/calls
 
It is fascinating (and good fun trying regardless of success!) Why would they do that? I suppose maybe it is impressive to a potential mate and maybe even that they like to holiday at the same destinations! I heard the other day that Long Tailed Tits have unique nest accents that prevents mating between siblings but acts as a family pass when relatives assist a breeding pair.
I've got quite a few recordings now labelled '?' but its one of those things where it also doesn't matter overmuch - a good excuse to seek out a new bit of wood or water round here (and a good excuse for a meandering trip out on the scooter at the same time!)
 
I am also useless at bird song, I need a visual, but luckily I am quite content with seeing 'a bird' and not knowing what it is other than I don't recognise it! However, for 2 nights I have been woken up by a bird in the night, which I presume is an owl, but the noise is quite odd. Its almost like heavy breathing, or panting, in short bursts, almost like a flying dog. Last night there was no noise - because we had a group of youngsters with an adult doing something in the forest, in the middle of nowhere with torches. It involved a lot of yelling and screeching, and rushing about, and the word 'tarantula'! OH thinks it was the scouts or equivalent, doing something outdoorsy.

My actual nature spot yesterday was a flying beetle, the size of a small house. Its actually a red palm weevil or beetle, which is deadly. They decimate many types of palm beetle and they are impossible to eradicate. They are bright red, with a long proboscis, or 'rostrum' as I see it is actually called. We have European hornets here, which are large, but non invasive and not scary. The beetle makes them look like ordinary wasps.
 
I have always liked weevils, But these sound scary.
Mrs Biscuit you could try Xeno Canto as well just type in names of owls in your area and listen to the calls. You may strike lucky.
I remember a tale of a car mechanic on an industrial estate getting complaints about his alarm going off every night , this went on for about a week and he kept saying no it wasn't. He happened to mention it to a bird watching friend who got quite excited and went round there, in the trees at the back of the workshop was a tiny Scops owl, that had got to UK and was fruitlessly calling for a mate, which sounds just like an alarm going off
 
“I have always liked weevils”.
Now whilst I would be the first to condone an interest in the natural world this is an example bordering on the eccentric. You must have had a very unusual childhood! ???
 
Sorry for the diversion, but Hen-Gen's just reminded me of something...

The other year, I was debating what to get my husband for his birthday. A large weevil saw me pondering and asked what the problem was. When I explained that I didn't know what to buy for my husband, it suggested a Maserati.

"Hmmm", I thought. "That sounds pretty expensive!"
Just then, the weevil's little brother strolled up, so I asked him what he thought.

"I'd make him dinner & buy him a beer up at the pub" he replied.

So what did my husband get? Dinner & beer; I went for the lesser of the two weevils :-)
 
That's the joke in Master and Commander, although it involves 2 weevils on a plate from memory, which makes it one of my most favourite films!
 
Nice one.
Yes Hen-Gen I probably did, but they are interesting little things
 
Can anyone tell me what kind of moth this is? Sorry it's a bit blurry, but I 've had to crop it from a much larger photo to make the image small enough...20200709_112058~2.jpg
 
Few colourful moths in trap this am
 

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Like Timothy Tortrix for a moth, I kid you not or Lempke's Gold Spot, there is a whole world of names out there, including all the tiny micro moths having really lengthy Latin names
 
Hen-Gen said:
They have some incredible names, these moths. Bulrush Wainscot sounds particularly unlikely. ?
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I can just see retired Col. Bulrush Wainscot twirling his moustache! :lol: :lol:
 
LadyA said:
Hen-Gen said:
They have some incredible names, these moths. Bulrush Wainscot sounds particularly unlikely. ?
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I can just see retired Col. Bulrush Wainscot twirling his moustache! :lol: :lol:
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Or ‘let’s get the boys on the baize. From Hackney we have Bulrush Wainscot, winner of this years Dubai Masters’.
 
How about this for a weird creature.
It is a Blue Dragon, a type of mollusc, that feast on jelly fish in the Indian/Pacific ocean.
They occasionally wash up on beaches, where they can inflict a nasty sting on anyone treading on them or picking them up.
nature is amazing
 

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