Arriving at my usual Cotswold haunt on the first day of spring I was greeted by the magnificent outpourings of a songthrush.
Three years ago I wrote in Nature Notes about a songthrush and how its vocabulary was exceptionally wide-ranging and melodic This time the bird was perched at the summit of a lofty leylandii, on exactly the same branch as the individual three years previously. ‘Could this be the same songthrush?’, I wondered.
Over the next few days I listened as his recital began at 6am and continued without a break until 9am and then resumed from 4pm until dusk.
As before, I counted about 30 different and quite distinct phrases, repeated several times, some delivered more than others and with all combinations linked randomly throughout each session.
I attempted to translate those phrases into a human language equivalent, as I did in 2007. Suffice it to say, when I compared the bird’s repertoire with that of the one I described three years ago, the similarity was so remarkable I am convinced it was the same songthrush. As for variety, richness and volume of delivery, its song surpasses anything I have ever heard from the species.
To my mind the songthrush has to be the champion singer of any British bird. So, nightingale, eat your heart out.
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