Please can you identify this bird?

To my shame, I'm sh** at identifying birds, especially by their song and being surrounded by trees I've no idea where this particular little fella might be sitting, so I'm afraid a photo is out of the question.

However .... each morning, as I open my back door, he/she sits there going, dah, dah, dah, dah, daaah, daah i.e. four dots followed by two dashes. A quick google, brings 4 dots up as 'H' and 2 dashes as 'M', so I suppose it could be sitting there, looking at it's watch going 'Hm, hm, hm,' as in, 'what time d'you call this?' At 6.00 a.m., a critic I don't need, but I'd love to know what bird it is.

Any ideas?

 

have a look at this site for sounds of birds

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/b/blackbird/index.aspx


what does it look like?


loopy

 

Thanks loopy. Sadly, I've been through the RSPB site and many others, but the elusive bird remains just that. Unfortunately, because we're surrounded by trees, so I've no idea where the little devil may be hiding, and thus I've not been able to see him/her. Where's Bill Oddie when you need him

 

That site loopy posted has links to the bird songs make not just pictures.

 

Hi Fidgetsmum, sorry this is late but I'm only just catching up.

I've been doing the 'dah dah' tune in my head, haha how sad am I?lol, and it sounds like a wood pigeon to me. That is the 'sound' they make but I can't guarantee it is that of course. Should be on the RSPB website that was mentioned earlier so check it out.

let us know if you find out what it is or if you can get a pic of it.

cheers

 

Well, again thank you. After about 10 days I'm kind of pleased to say that the elusive bird has decided to move elsewhere as I've just about exhausted all the sites giving British bird song sounds and still not found it - it's annoying though. Thanks for the suggestion 'borrowers', sadly the one bird I can be sure it wasn't was a wood pigeon - as my Grandad taught me many moons ago, they go 'My feet hurt. My feet hurt' Not the most scientific way to remember, but it works for me!

 

Sorry fidgetsmum, I sometimes get mixed up between that and a collared dove but you'd obviously have heard the dove on the websites so it's a puzzle! Bet it comes back just to wind you up,lol.

cheers

 

Probably a Robin.

 

maybe its one of these [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERLHutqAdzc"]YouTube- The Proxy - Din Dah (Original Mix)[/nomedia]

 

I'm rubbish at identifying bird calls too, Fidgetsmum. Nothing comes to mind from what you've posted. Songthrushes tend to repeat the same phrase three times, before moving on to another variation. I've heard it described as sometimes sounding a bit like: 'did he do it? did he do it? did he do it?'/he did, he did, he did.' They don't always stick to the score, though. Maybe yours is an improviser.

It's definitely not a chaffinch, because they do a sort of trill which gets faster and faster and then has a little flourish on the end which sounds a bit like an 'atchoo'. Great tits often use a two-note repeated phrase which someone once described to me a sounding like a bicycle pump! Another common description is 'teacher/teacher/teacher'. I think it's more like 'stupid/stupid/stupid' (interesting word association there - maybe I have hidden traumatic memories!). This year we have goldfinches living just down the road - finally I have to admit that a forest of overgrown leylandii has its uses - and they have a lovely liquid, bubbling song.

The RSPB is a very useful site but the recorded sounds seem to vary quite a bit from what I actually hear. I think my birds have Medway accents.

 

A Nuthatch springs to mind,but knowing me it is wrong:D