Can you name this bird based on call alone?

Heard a very strange call in the garden just now. Couldn't get a visual but captured the sound, which was so unique I'm hoping someone can ID it.

It's pretty obvious which one it is as it's the loudest call. There's a 3 call, then a 2 call then a 3 call. If I was to describe it I'd say....star wars  lazer beam?!

https://youtu.be/BfLTLkGzZgc

  • Hi,

    I can hear what sounds like a group of tits - there's definitely a great tit in there as well - but I think that one that you are describing is a long-tailed tit. There are also some very high-pitched sounds, which I also think are long-tails.
  • Thanks. Doesn't quite sound like a long tail as it's has a bit of a metallic ring, but then my wife suggested it might have been in a gutter or pipe or something.
  • I think it's probably the "pink, pink, pink" call of a Great Tit. 

    The trouble with Great Tits is that they have a whole variety of songs and calls of which the "teacher, teacher ... " one is the most recognisable one. 

  • There is a bit of distortion in the recording itself (listen around 11 or12 seconds, there is a bird song that is definitely chaffinch, but sounds strange) so ithere probably won't be an exact match with any recordings that you'll find online.

    The calls here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/long-tailed-tit/ seem to match pretty well, and coupled with the high-pitched sounds in the recording still sounds like long-tailed tit to me.  I don't know what is making the call so loud though..!

  • The trill right at the end sounds like a green finch.
  • The 'lazer beam' call is definitely a Great Tit, not quite the 'pink, pink' Chaffinch like-call Teejay linked but a regular call (if one of the weirder sounding) that Great Tits make.

  • This one is not too bad a match but with 78 hours of Great Tit recordings on the site, and a currently somewhat erratic internet connection, I don't think I can do any better for you at the moment!

    www.xeno-canto.org/29523