International Dawn Chorus Day, 5th May 2024
5th May is International Dawn Chorus Day. On this day people listen specially to, and often audio record, the sounds that many birds make together at dawn, in varied settings, across the world, with members of bird and nature societies sometimes gathering in groups to do so. The tradition is now nearly half a century old, having begun in Britain.
This year, a microphone rig setup in my garden in a suburban environment, here in Sri Lanka, captured the early morning chorus of garden birds in my neighbourhood. A part of the recording of the chorus can be heard below. A major participant in the chorus here these days is the Oriental Magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis). It sings its beautiful songs in many variations differing across days, weeks and months, during its breeding season.
A week before, the same bird (Oriental Magpie-robin), at the same location, in the morning:
Photo by Namal Kamalgoda
The Magpie-robin is one of the few prolific songbirds in Sri Lanka and is the only one found every home garden in the country. The singing ability of this bird is truly remarkable. Its songs, consisting either almost entirely of clear “musical” notes, or a mix of some of these with high squeaks, resound almost everywhere in the country during the time it is breeding. Every male tends to sing a different song to another male in the vicinity, these performances being territorial. Having closely studied the singing life of the Magpie-robin, and thereby knowing its abilities as a songbird, I thought it is well justified to name it the Songbird of the Year 2024, on this International Dawn Chorus Day: see the following blog post for more details on this subject, https://www.srilankanaturesounds.com/sri-lanka-nature-sounds-songbird-of-the-year-2024/
Deepal Warakagoda Sri Lanka Nature Sounds 6th May 2024