UPDATE: This hardly needs saying, but just in case there is any confusion: the following news item is complete and utter made-up codswallop. So, was anyone April Fooled? Even for a split-second? Nope, thought not…!
As part of our new series of linking bird photography with sound recordings, we have recently had a major new development: a combined sighting and recording of a very rare subspecies of Song Thrush.
Ornithologists out there will know that three subspecies of Song Thrush are recognized throughout Europe. The male’s song, which is given from trees, rooftops or other elevated perches, is a loud clear run of musical phrases, repeated two to four times (“filip filip filip codidio codidio quitquiquit tittit tittit tereret tereret tereret”) and interspersed with grating notes and mimicry. An individual male may have a repertoire of more than 100 phrases, many copied from its parents and neighbouring birds. The Song Thrush is also a very gifted mimic and has been known to imitate man-made objects such as telephones.
Over recent years, the repeated use of mimicry has led to a proposal to classify a fourth subspecies of Song Thrush. At some time during the last sixty years, a Thrush was able to mimic part of Mozart’s Queen of The Night aria, as sung by Florence Foster Jenkins (the famously atrocious soprano) and was then able to pass this song on to its offspring. There are now thought to be several hundred of this subspecies, living mainly in Scandinavia.
Just like their close cousins the Redwing, the recent freezing weather has cause this very rare Jenkins Thrush to migrate south, and only last week we were able to record one singing near the Cuckoo Gate. This is a very exciting event for local ornithologists, and PARWICH.ORG is proud to provide you with an exclusive preview of this unique recording.
To listen to the Jenkins Thrush, please click the picture below.
PARWICH.ORG 
Mike G
I do know what the date is, even at my age.
I go to Berne today to help with the harvest
of the Swiss spaghetti crop.
P.S.
Not many pianos in the tree tops, let alone thrushes with a big enough span to hit the notes.
Gosh, we have been watching this bird all week in our garden too. We didn’t realise it was so rare – funny though, I could have sworn it was singing The Ride of the Valkyries. Perhaps it has an even bigger repertoire here in Parwich?
Just an update on the swallows – our first breeding pair arrived yesterday and after a quick swirl around the buildings dived straight into their favourite stable.