"Our" starling has just arrived in the garden and greets us with a little crazy evening concerto from a birch. But did he come alone?  Hålanda, 21 March 2016, Panasonic GH4, Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50-200 tele lens + 2x teleconverter (effective focal length here around 1300 mm), Telinga Pro V parabole with stereo DAT mic. No editing except that I put together a few short and almost consecutive clips. Note the imitations starting around 40 seconds (blackbird/koltrast, whitethroat/törnsångare?, eurasian curlew/storspov?). Sorry for the background wind+traffic noise, any substantial filtering would distort the song.

If the chaffinch (sv: bofink) had been a very rare bird it would have been world famous for its beauty. Now it is Sweden's second commonest bird (after the willow warbler, lövsångaren), but still one of the most beautiful. Here are three clips: one silent young male filmed in late March 2016 (in our garden), one male singing at Grönån, Hålanda April 2016 with several wellknown accompanying voices, and finally one male calling its young in late May the same year. The last one was filmed on the west coast of Öland; the sound from that occasion is not what it should be due to my using the audio limiter on the camera. I hope to be able to fix it later. Camera: GH4 with Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50-200 + 2x teleconverter, sound (the two later clips): Telinga Pro 5W with Stereo DAT mic.

Many song thrushes (taltrastar) mainly talk and are fun to listen to, but the one below has more of a singing, melodic voice. Listen for imitations and tell me what you hear! Sound: Telinga Pro5W with Stereo DAT mic. Some very short parts (in the order of at most a few seconds) had to be cut out because of transient noise, marked by the video transitions. Camera: Panasonic GH4 with Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50-200 + 2x teleconverter, corresponding to 1600 mm. The light conditions were difficult and a HLG capable camera would not have been out of place. Höga, Hålanda, evening of 7 May 2016.

Next another clip from early May 2016 in Höga, Hålanda, featuring two common birds: a robin (rödhake) and one or two willow warblers (lövsångare). Camera: GH4 with Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50-200 + 2x teleconverter, sound: Telinga Pro 5W with Stereo DAT mic.

Many birds are known to sometimes sing with a weaker song than usual. It is not quite clear which role(s) such "silent song" has, but some experts say there are two kinds: (1) subsong, which is not as articulate as the normal song and is sung by inexperienced birds and out of season, and (2) whisper song, which is quite normal except when it comes to volume and which is sung by adult birds in the midst of heat and often near the nest. See for example http://earbirding.com/blog/archives/2910. As far as I know, the Swedish term "skuggsång" covers both kinds of silent song.

Here we first hear a duet or rather a song duel between a robin (visible) and a willow warbler (not visible). Note that the two songs are equally strong. Then, the robin ducks and in comes a willow warbler. When he (?) starts to sing it is with a very weak voice – one has to look carefully at his throat to be sure that it is he singing. He goes on singing for a while and then flies away. At the end we again hear the "normal" willow warbler together with the robin, just for comparison with the silent singer.

It should be added that there was most probably a willow warbler nest close by, since I saw one bird flying in and out of a dense fir there. So, this could well be an example of "whisper song" in heat.

Then the same, or another, robin (rödhake) duelling with a blackcap (svarthätta, first 1/3) the same morning. Camera: GH4 with Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50-200 + 2x teleconverter, sound: Telinga Pro 5W with Stereo DAT mic, some noise reduction with Izotope RXII was necessary because of wind and surrounding agricultural activities. So the sound is not perfect, also because the sound limiting function was turned on (which causes slight distortions).

Below is a composition from two mornings at the western shore of Hålsjön, Ale, Sweden on June 11-12, 2016. The main character is a singing reed warbler (rörsångare) – this marvellous rap artist – and we also get a glimpse of him flying together with his mate. A shorter shutter time would have improved that scene! We see a reed bunting (sävsparv) listening to the reed warbler and we hear a number of other birds including a blackbird and a common crane (towards the end). There is also a surprise voice in the beginning – now you have been warned! Please note that the last five seconds or so of the reed warbler's song in the close-up scene towards the end is sung very quietly and with closed bill – compare the Silent Song video above.

Here is another energetic European Reed Warbler (rörsångare), now in Steninge, Halland on 22 June 2016, 08.30. You can also hear a skylark (sånglärka). Panasonic GH4, Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50-200 tele lens with 2x extender, Telinga Pro V with Stereo DAT mic. No audio filtering attempted.

Below at least seven young Barn Swallows (ladusvalor) being fed by their parents in a maple on a windy day, 3 September 2016. Next day all the swallows were on their way to Africa. Panasonic GH4 with Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50-200 tele lens + 2x teleconverter (effective focal length 400–1600 mm), sound: Telinga pro 5W with Stereo DAT mic.

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