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Arid mallee country is vast and flat. Although this large reserve is brimming with birdlife and bird species, and every dawn is typically rich with bird energy and variety, birds are very widely dispersed throughout the landscape. Recording first light/dawn choruses, here, can be challenging, and the obvious and best choice for a wide perspective of this widely-dispersed activity is to use a pair of sensitive omnidirectional microphones. (Examples: https://soundcloud.com/hearingbeings/20200914-mallee-habitat-2-spring-before-sunrise-excerpt, https://soundcloud.com/hearingbeings/20200914-mallee-habitat-2-spring-after-sunrise-excerpt.)
Even so, much depends on a certain serendipity. As I’ve been learning from experience, no two dawns in the same location are likely to be very similar: much depends on seasonal, astronomical, and weather conditions, and which groups of birds happen to be present in, or passing through, a particular location on a particular morning. On one morning, one may be in the midst of vocal Ravens and White-winged Choughs; on another, the Choughs and Ravens may be only barely audible in the far distance, whereas Grey Butcherbirds, Brown Treecreepers and Bronzewings may grace the foreground. Even so, various species do tend to prefer congregating in specific (although fairly wide) regions, according to variations in the flora of the landscape. The location in which this excerpt (from a longer overnight to dawn recording) was recorded is especially frequented by Grey Butcherbirds.
Lately, I've been exploring this varied and variable landscape with a pair of cardioid microphones, which, with their shorter and more focussed range, are excellent for picking out a smaller sphere of local details from the expansive but spatially attenuated acoustic landscape (or, perhaps better expressed, lifeworld soundscape). This present recording is an example. The main focus, here, is a fascinating feature of Grey Butcherbird communication: the interlocking of sometimes different, sometimes similar, kinds of calls. A very common example of different kinds of calls is what, on the one hand, is often very poorly described – in accordance with the limited ‘human ear’ - as ‘cackling’ or ‘laughing’ (faintly reminiscent of kookaburra calls): in fact, these calls are complex and interesting; and, when pitch-dropped and slowed down, reveal much ‘musical’ or informational detail. On the other hand, these complex calls often alternate or interlock with very melodious phrases provided by another Grey Butcherbird. (At the beginning of this excerpt, the former type of call can be heard to the left, followed immediately by the latter kind, to the right.) This combination of ‘contrasts’ seems to shift into an alternation or interlocking of melodious calls, provided by both birds in the duet.
During this recording, a Grey Butcherbird providing the melodious calls in a duet perches on a dry log beside the microphones. In the distance can also be heard (most clearly) Brown Treecreepers; along with (more faintly) Common Bronzewings, Crested Bellbirds, White-winged Choughs, Australian Ravens, a Striated Pardalote, and an Owlet Nightjar, amongst others.
Listening with good headphones in a quiet environment (with volume between around 60 to 70 per cent) is strongly recommended.
Recorded on land of the Meru and Danggali peoples, which is now a private protected area, purchased from pastoral lease in 1997 by BirdLife Australia (see https://www.gluepot.org/about-gluepot/introduction/). The Reserve is also part of the Riverland Biosphere Reserve and the Riverland Mallee Important Bird Area.
Dedicated to Ben Gerstein.
- Genre
- Field Recording