Graeme Chapman - natural history photographer - ornithologist

Bird calls / bird song
Eastern Whipbird

Sample 178-400 is from a pair in the rainforest at Lamington N.P. in Qld. This is the song most often heard by everyone. The first call is the male/female duet - he does the peeee+whipcrack and she adds the "chew-chew". The second call is just the male, followed by another at a distance. The third call is just the female, answering a bird at a distance, not her own mate. Sample 048-220 is another duet, this time from a pair of birds at Tianjara in NSW. Note the two different types of song from the one male, first starting with a high note, then with a low note. Sample 152-180 is a collation of a long session from a young bird sitting in a thicket in our front garden at Beerwah in Qld and quietly singing - sounds as though he/she was on a learning curve! Note that the bird was giving male and female-like calls. Of particular interest are the frog-like sounds at the end of several of the calls. Sample LS100245 I recorded again in my garden at Beerwah Qld where two young birds were feeding together. HANZAB lists this harsh call as a "contact call", usually made by birds while feeding on the ground. To my mind it is too loud for a contact call - people may just be guessing here because they don't know what else to name it. Because it is associated with feeding I suggest it may be used as a sound to disturb prey, similar in sound and purpose to the "scissors grinding" call of the Restless Flycatcher. Sample 184-220 is another collection of calls from a young bird seemingly practising quietly in the front garden.

421 Eastern Whipbird 178-400
421 Eastern Whipbird 048-220
421 Eastern Whipbird 152-180
421 Eastern Whipbird LS100245
421 Eastern Whipbird 184-220

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