Long static note birdsong - Any ideas?

North East England, trying to figure out what kind of bird this is.

5460.Birdsong.m4a

Apologies for the terrible recording, but it's the best we can do. It's been squeaking all day long and we can't figure out at all what it is.

Any help would be really appreciated, thanks!

  • Is it? I always thought they had more of a coo as opposed to the long squealy sound
  • There is a Wood Pigeon calling but I don't think that's what Jade is referring to.If you listen carefully there is a persistent squeaky call. I've tried to reduce the background noise and amplify it somewhat - not very successfully but you can hear the call.

    The usual suspect in these cases is the so called rain song of a Chaffinch but it's difficult to be sure in this case

    .

    Wendy Barrter has got a really good video of one calling and I'm sure she will post it if she sees this post.

    Of course it may be something completely different but hard to know

  • That's a possibility depending on habitat
  • Thanks for the suggestions, you're right that it's the long single note squeaks that we were trying to figure out.

    I thought it could be the Chaffinch's rain song, but there was no vibration in the note at all. It was super clean. The bird was there for 3-4 hours, and I think there were a couple. I couldn't see them at all though.

    We also thought it could have been a little owl, but it seems like much crisper a note than they tend to do. More like a whistle.

    It definitely could be the sparrowhawk, the begging call on that page sounds extremely close!
  • Thank you!
    It's definitely close, but the note seems to be rising quite a lot compared to the one I can hear.

    The more I've dug around listening to clips, the more I'm sure it must be a sparrowhawk.
    https://youtu.be/Oo4SPJV6E1w
    This video in particular is extremely similar to what I've been hearing.

    Thanks for all the help and suggestions!