Pipits are a group of birds generally difficult to identify. They are various shade of tawny -brown, with a speckled breast and a rather upright posture. In particular the Tree Pipit is not easy to tell on sight from a Meadow Pipit. In Switzerland even their distribution is quite similar being found from about 800m altitude and upwards, most common at at about 1200m. However both song and behaviour make the two immediately identifiable. As the name implies the Tree Pipit ONLY ever sings perched high in a tree or in flight, and its song, whilst complex is very distinct.
Here is a bird recorded in April and not yet in full song, maybe this is "spring song" before the full voice develops ? The birds was perched in a tree and you can hear that the phrase has two elements to it - "tsip-tsip-tsip chup-chup-chup":
Full voice results in a longer more complex song, usually given from a high perch near the top of a tree:
There are elements in here which could be confused with a Chaffinch, like this phrase:
Whilst others have quite distinct tones, in the following you can see that each phrase begins with the "chup-chup-chup" that sounds like a Chaffinch, but then it breaks into more ringing tones "choweep-chooweep-chooweep" which are much brighter, note also that the first phrase has a third element - two clear whistles with an upward inflection (these are important) - but now its getting complicated :
That whistle at the end of the first phrase is also used in the song flight which is the Tree Pipit in its full magnificence. The song flight can also involve strange chatterings and vibrations almost like a canary, listen to these two phrases which were actually made by a perched bird:
So let's put all these elements together and see what it sounds like on a warm summer day. When "in season" the song can be made static from a high perch in which case it is usually in a simpler format, but it is also delivered in flight - here the bird flies upwards and outwards from its tree at an angle of about 60 degrees, rising to height perhaps twice that of the tree. It often does not start to sing until at the apex of the flight, it then curves its wings and spreads its tail to form a "parachute" and with legs extended floats slowly back to the original perching spot, usually making the churring sounds or whistles as it glides back down.
Here is a bird in late June (hear the cows bells and hover flies) which starts with a flight song, then does two phrases at a static perch, then does one more flight song - you can hear how much more extended and complex those two songs in flight are - the first one gets louder as the bird floats back to my microphone:
and here is another which does the reverse, a perched song, then two flight songs and finally one perched song:
In all cases that whistled "tcheu-tcheu-tcheu" is very distinctive, carries a long way and tells you there are Tree Pipits about.
Last Updated on Sunday, 06 June 2010 13:57
WHITE WAGTAIL (Motacilla alba)
Bergeronnette grise
The White Wagtail is found throughout the lowlands of Switzerland up to about 2000m but mostly below 1000m. Living largely on or near the ground it is fond of large flies which it catches by running about and making short leaps into the air. Clearly farms and animal pastures are interesting for this bird which is where it is usually found. But a newly cut lawn or meadow is also interesting, as is a warm roof-top in the sun where it may be seen running along the ridge tiles. As its English name implies it really does wag its tail, why is a bit of a mystery but is probably an adaptation that scares insects into moving and so makes them more visible and hence helps the Wagtail to hunt.
Vocally this is not the most fascinating bird in the world, most of its sounds are barely more than a call - often characterised as a rapid "tchi-ssik" but so rapid it is barely distinguishable as two syllables:
Although if you look at the spectrogram the two syllables are just about separable:
Here is one bird that I recorded quite close whose call was a little slower and the spectrogram shows that it is quite a complex note which accounts for why it sounds a bit "fuzzy":
Some authors write that they have heard a "song" where the calls I have described are spun out into a longer sound on warbles. These descriptions (that I have read !) are mostly from the UK where a different sub-species exists and it is called a Pied Wagtail, so whether this is a sub-species difference or whether I need to do more work on this rather common species I am not sure.
I have recorded a pair very close to their nest where one bird gave off a much shorter call, definitely only one syllable, which may be an anxiety call as it was well aware that I was present and interested in it - but I did not stay long so that it could get on with its own business !
