VC/DZ 1043

BURN 2

AGiantEnjoysSpring

Australian magpies are unrelated to magpies of other continents.  Their vocalisations include extraordinarily complex and varied calls during the day, simple shrieks of alarm and attack, a plaintive begging call of juveniles which look bigger than their parents and beak-clapping.  Some of them sing before or at dawn, and this can be delicate, melodic and highly individual.  There are a lot of magpies in this area, and my impression is that only a fraction of them call at dawn.

My wife Tina and I used to enjoy listening to a magpie singing before dawn when we lived in Rosanna.  At times he or she seemed to be singing most mornings - and it was clearly the same one over months or years, since the song was distinctive.

In Daylesford we have occasionally heard one calling at dawn nearby.  Here are two recordings of this bird made with a Sony PCM D50 and its internal microphones.  

This first recording was in night-time darkness, with dawn an hour or more away.  The air was still and foggy.  I was not with the recorder at the time.  We can hear the magpie flying close, and he or she begins calling after about a minute.

The second recording https://soundcloud.com/robin-whittle/australian-magpie-singing-at-dawn-6am-16th-september-2016 is clearly the same bird (we have not seen it since it was dark on one occasion and he or she was obscured by leaves on the second).  The morning was still and dawn was in progress, with more noise from distant cars and from running water thanks to recent downpours.

More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_magpie#Vocalisations


Australian Magpie singing before the dawn, 5AM 11th August 2016

Paint it, Blacker remix

In addition to some magpie dawn songs, these tracks demonstrate some electronic musical instrument modifications.  My website is http://www.firstpr.com.au/rwi/dfish/ and my email address is rw@firstpr.com.au .

Please also see https://soundcloud.com/atwindow for the ambient music my wife Tina and I are making as "Astral Truth Window".

  - Robin

Australian Magpie singing before the dawn, 5AM 11th August 2016

Robin Whittle

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