Thursday 24 March 2016

Favourite bird calls of Singapore

If you asked me what my favourite sound was, I would say birdsong. Of course, this is hugely varied the world over. But I love pretty much all of it - particularly for tree-living birds. I don't know if this is a universal human thing; or if it's the result of my mother teaching me when I was a very small child in rural England, to stop - and just listen to the birds.. 

But for me, birdsong has always been one of the most grounding, and restful things there is.

And the birds of tropical Asia are no exception! These little guys, however, generally have huge lungs and belt out all sorts of wonderful whoops and chirrups, far more fruitily than European birds do. When it comes to voice, SE Asian birds are the Aretha Franklin to Europe's Dusty Springfield!

And Singapore, despite being pretty much a city-country, has lots of greenery in it, and lots of bird-life. So here, in no order, are three of my favourite local bird calls. I've heard all of them at or near my apartment (which is pretty central) apart from, perhaps, the nightjar (and yes, when I was re-introduced to that avian, as an adult in Malaysia, I thought it was a car key-fob too!) In fact there are at least two other common birds I love the sounds of in Singapore but I haven't seen them, so I couldn't identify them to find soundbites! If I do, I'll add them in later :)

Black Naped Oriole
You find these pretty birds all over Singapore, and they have lovely call too! 



Koel
Some people find these guys really irritating - they ARE loud. And often they have fights, which are even louder! 

Nightjar
This is a Large-Tailed Nightjar (there are many different kinds) but this is definitely the call I know!