Hi Mike, At this time of year in much of the UK, Song Thrushes should still be the dominant thrush, but Blackbirds and Redwings will be starting to join them. With a lot of luck you might hear a Ring Ouzel, but this is not a common thrush. Oddly enough, Mistle Thrush and Fieldfare don't seem to call much at night. Nobody I've asked has ever head more than the odd call at dusk or dawn, even at times when many were moving through. Has anyone in this group heard them at night?
As for other passerines, relatively few European ones seem to use flight calls at night, which partly explains the relative lack of interest in night flight calls over here. Most of what you hear comes from the three species of thrush I mentioned first. Among the passerines I've definitely heard flying over at night are: Skylark, Woodlark, Tree Pipit, Snow Bunting and Ortolan. A Willow Warbler at night sounds unlikely, as none of our warblers call much in flight (except Cisticolas). Did you get a recording? I live in Portugal where there are huge numbers of Pied Flycatchers passing through just now. I've been out several nights trying to find out whether they have nocturnal flight calls, but so far without any conclusive results. What I have learned however is that I am hearing a few passerine flight calls that I can't yet identify. I have a good knowledge of the calls of most western European species by day, so perhaps some are using different calls at night that I've simply never heard. In short, lots to learn for us Europeans too! Besides passerines, you are of course likely to hear lots of shorebirds, and geese as the autumn progresses. Which species you hear will depend very much on where you are. Feel free to send me some of your UFO recordings. I'm keen to puzzle and learn about what else is flying over at night... cheers, Magnus Robb On 27 Sep 2009, at 22:1501, Michael Lanzone wrote: > Hi all, > > Last night I heard my first flight calling overseas. Currently I am > in Chester, England and had a decent number of migrants this > morning. Not sure what to expect for numbers here, but I was > hearing 8-10 thrushes per minute during the peak, typically less > though. I am guessing Song/mistle Thrush, also had what sounded > like Willow Warbler, many unknown. Will need to learn more night > flight calls here! Had a number of shorebirds pass over as well, > greenshank, lapwing, redshank, green sandpiper?, golden plover, > etc. Looking forwrd to the next several weeks in Europe! Any advice > from any of you as to what you are hearing this time of year? I > will be mostly in UK for the next week, then spending most the rest > of my time in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy. I also hope to > spend some time in the alps listening to nocturnal migration, > possibly col de bretolet. Anyway, be interestd in what to expect > and some sample calls if any of you have them to share! I am doing > some recording so will hopefully have something good to share as well. > > Talk to you all soon, > Mike > > Michael Lanzone > Biotechnology and Biomonitoring Lab Supervisor > Carnegie Museum of Natural History > Powdermill Avian Research Center > 1847 Route 381 > Rector, PA 15677 > 724.593.5521 Office > [email protected] > > Sent from my iPhone -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
