The Identification of Autumn Pipits by Sound

In this episode, I run through a few random recording from various locations, made over the course of 2024, in order to warm the listeners up and ease them into the New Year with a relaxing sound magazine, full of ambient sound ans bird sound...
 Following this gentle introduction, the main sound magazine  is a more detailed treatment of one on my favourite groups of migrants here in Sweden. During the course of Autumn, various species of Pipit are a migratory staple here in Sweden. In this carefully put together sound magazine, I detail the migratory calls of several species of diurnally migrating Pipits and share a large amount of audio in the process. I hope this will be of interest to those listeners who enjoy the study of visible migration. 

Transcript

  You're all very welcome to wild bird acoustics. I'm your host, Alan Dalton, and I'll be taking you on a journey into sound. 

 Now, welcome everybody to the second episode of Season 2 of Wild Bird Acoustics. As I sit here and record, it's St. Stephen's Day, Boxing Day, and I'm in great form. I had a wonderful gift yesterday, a new TASCAM recorder, it's the FR AV2, very compact recorder. It has 32 bit float, and I can't wait to get it out into the field and give that a go.

It's going to be a very useful addition to my kit bag, I'd say, in the next few years.   Now, I hope you listeners have all had a wonderful Christmas as well. And as this will be going out on New Year's Day, I'd like to wish you all a very happy New Year.

I hope 2025 is full of good health, good cheer, and plenty of good birds. Now, we're going to crack on straight away with the first sound magazine. And this is just a random bunch of recordings, so to speak. I'll play that for you now. Enjoy it.

  Now, welcome everybody once again to Wild Bird Acoustics. We have a lovely random sound magazine here for you. Now, what I've done in this soundscape is I've just basically picked some random recordings that appeal to me for various reasons, and I'll talk you through those. Few of these are quite long.

They're sort of in the two to three and a half minute range, but I do hope you enjoy them. Some are very, very high quality, and I think it'll be a nice way just to ease into the episode here. This is the second episode of the second season here at the podcast.  Now season two is going to benefit greatly from my acquisition of a pair of Sennheiser 8020 stereo microphones. 

Now as wonderful as these mics are, they're not actually perfect for every situation. And I'm going to play you a recording here which I made in early July at Fast Button in Sweden along the coast. And basically what I was doing on the morning was just picking up some nice ambience from the lapping waves and the common birds in the background.

And In the background here, you're going to hear a common gull, a singing blackbird, arctic terns quietly feeding in the background, and some black headed gulls. But noise pollution is something that rears its head all of the time. And in the distance here, there's a couple of kids playing, and you'll hear them just after about one minute here. 

Now over the course of 2024, I really wanted to get into using this array, and I found myself getting out more and more at night just to escape this kind of noise pollution. It can be extremely difficult to get away from all kinds of noise, cars, dogs, you'll all be familiar with that type of thing. But when you're recording and you want really quiet ambiances, this kind of thing can be quite frustrating, but still a very nice recording, which highlights the incredible detail that these Sennheisers can record in.

Have a listen. 

Now, when you get right with the Sennheiser array, the results are absolutely incredible. And I'm going to play a recording now from the 1st of July, 2024 from Hallegern. And that's in Västerbotten in Northern Sweden. And in this recording you're going to hear some calling oyster catchers just moving around a breeding site.

In the background there's plenty of red breasted mergansers flying by. Their harsh grating calls are quite distinctive. And also quite a few common gulls calling and moving around the area. Another common breeding species. on the island.  This is a wonderful recording. We'll have listened to it now. So once again, this is oyster catchers in Northern Sweden. 

Now something different for you next, something that was recorded with the Sennheiser array, but over the last few weeks and over the course of this winter, I've put a bit of time into recording a species that I had not as yet recorded. And the species is Mandarin Duck. Now this species is a Category C species in Sweden, it's not wild as such.

A few birds have escaped, and in certain areas are starting to do quite well. Now here in Stockholm, quite close to home, a male bird turned up in 2022. And the following winter, two males and a female took up residence in the area. It's a place where mallards get fed in the winter. And the birds were around all winter.

And this summer they bred in the area. Now this winter there's four males and four females present. Now I put a bit of work into this and I found where the birds were roosting at the site. It's just a small clump of kind of trees on the edge of the water. And what you're going to hear now is a group of mandarin ducks waking up and beginning to socialize in the morning.

So the very strange kind of coughing or sneezing low calls Her male mandarin duck and then the higher call here is, it's almost like some sort of a small dog barking, is the female mandarins. Now also in the area there's some grey tits, some blue tits. There was a large flock of Eurasian Ciscan feeding in the area.

You'll hear them throughout. There's quite a strange noise through the recording and that's actually the noise from feeding mallard, just sifting through the water with their bills. Now it's a very busy area. There's a lot of people walking their dogs, cycling, walking past. So I had to get up at all hours in the morning for this recording, but it was worth being there as the birds, as soon as they started to wake up and get active, were actually quite vocal.

So have a listen to this folks. This is Mandarin Ducks in Stockholm City, recorded just a couple of weeks ago in a place called Tante London. Have a listen. 

Um, 

Yeah. It's good. Yeah. Yeah. 

Now, next up is a very lengthy recording in actual fact, it was actually recorded with the S M mini recorder. So that's an automated recorder that I use up in fast button. Um, for recording migration. But in this occasion it caught a lovely scene of some disputing Hooper's Wands. Now this scene was recorded on the 24th of September 2023.

I was on the island at the time and it was recorded in the evening and the local pair were going absolutely bananas. Because another pair of pooper swan had flown into the area and landed on their territory. There's not much else to say about that apart from what you're going to hear is the two pairs going absolutely bonkers at each other.

They're moving around quite a bit, but it makes for a wonderful recording, especially as this area is so incredibly quiet. Now in the background here you're going to hear things like Meadow Pippet, Raven, Mallard, White Wagtail and Chaffinch. Now it's once again a very long recording, but I think once you've listened to it you will understand Why I have included the whole thing.

It's quite a lot going on. The birds are moving around over a wide area, flying around the island. And it just adds to the drama of the entire recording. So without any further ado, this is Disputing Hooper Swans at Hallegern in Västerbotten, Sweden. 

Now, I've really enjoyed being out at night time in 2024.  I've had some absolutely incredible experiences, and I just found it was a fantastic time to record. There was so much going on. I had some incredible run ins with mammals as well, which was just another feature of getting out at night that I absolutely love.

I found that being out at night just kind of brought out a sense of wonderment that I hadn't felt in a long time. And it was fantastic just to be out in darkness when your senses are really heightened and there's so much going on around you. Um, because you can't see very well at night, it just feels like your other senses become heightened as you move around these areas and I can thoroughly recommend folks getting out at night and it does lead to getting some absolutely incredible recordings.

Case in point, here's a song thrush singing at midnight in Västerbotten in Sweden. There's an incredible ambience in the background here, once again from Wind Through the Trees and the Baltic Sea and of course it's Västerbotten so there's always arctic terns in the background.  So once again, this is Sangthrush singing at midnight at Vastapotten in Sweden on the 5th of July 2024. 

Um, uh, Um, uh, Um, uh, Um, uh, Um, uh, Um, uh, Um, uh, Um, uh, Um, uh, Um, uh, 

Um, uh, So I want to do all three of them at once. So, this is the first one, and the same one, and this is the second one, and so on. So, both of them. 

Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, 

Um, 

Now, for the next recording, we are back to northern Sweden and indeed back to Hallegern in Västerbotten. And in this recording, you're going to hear a Gullcrest. This bird I found singing at midnight and I left the Sennheiser though to record it.  The ambience in this recording is quite wonderful, just the wind moving through the trees and the distant Baltic Sea in the background.

As always at this location in the background, you have Arctic Terrans calling Common Gull, there's a calling Common Sandpiper, and also a night singing European Robin.  So once again, an absolutely wonderful recording. Have a listen. 

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

Now there's one thing I probably enjoy more than anything else and that is the autumn period and getting out to monitor and record autumn migration. In this next recording you're going to hear a group of Parrot Crossbill moving down the coastline of Västerbotten in northern Sweden. In the background is Chaffinch, Eurasian Ciscan, Calling Reed Munting, and a Common Ring Bluffer just flying down the coast as well.

There's also a Calling Hooded Crow in the background. Now this was recorded with a Zoom F6 recorder using Clippy EM272 microphones just attached to a tree with some electrical tape. It's a wonderful way of recording very, very handy. These tiny mics, these lab mics just attach anywhere, and I can recommend using them in drop rigs, no matter where you are.

So we'll have a listen to that. Now, this is Parrot Crossbill on migration in Northern Sweden recorded on the 17th of September, 2000. 

And 24.  Now one of the nice things about autonomous recording is those little surprises that you get. And in this recording, you have a lovely recording of a song thrush, just giving some alarm calls at very close range. It's a lovely clear recording, very short, and I'm going to play that for you now. So once again, this is at Vastabotten in northern Sweden.

It's an alarming song thrush, very close to a wildlife acoustics SM mini recorder. Have a listen. 

Now I'm going to finish up with a very short recording. It's a species that I really enjoy recording in the autumn and it comes through in the early part of the autumn and that is Western Yellow Wagtail. Now this was recorded on the 27th of August 2024 at Hallegern in Sweden. It was a really good morning for passage of Yellow Wagtail and I got some incredible recordings on the SM mini recorder which was on the island on its own recording the migration for me.

as I worked away in Stockholm City. And this is the joy of having listening stations. It's an absolutely wonderful way of collecting audio of migrant birds. So we'll have a listen to that now. This is Yellow Wagtail. And in the background here, you're going to hear White Wagtail, some Willow Tit, a Calling Raven in the background, and also some Nuthatch.

So once again, wonderful recording, migrating Yellow Wagtail at Västerbotten in northern Sweden. 

So that's that, folks. That's another sound magazine here at Wild Bird Acoustics. I really do hope you have enjoyed this set of random recordings. I know I really enjoyed getting out into the field to actually make them. Once again, folks, thanks for listening.   

 Now I actually recorded that last sound magazine, or put it together I should say, on Christmas Eve morning when the good lady wife was out at work for about six hours and I had a little bit of time to burn.

I decided pretty much at the last minute to put two episodes out at the same time in order to launch the second season of Wild Bird Acoustics.  I just figured this might be appreciated by the listeners Whilst they actually have time hopefully over the holidays to listen to it.

 Now I did want to vary things a little bit in regard to those two episodes. So what I'm going to do now is move on to an area which I absolutely love, and that is autumn migration. Now in the autumn, one of my favorite species groups are the pippets, and that's what this magazine is all about.

It's about autumn pippets here in Sweden.

  Now as always folks, I recommend you use headphones when listening to wild bird acoustics.  It just helps immerse yourself into the audio that little bit more and just experience the feeling of being outdoors.

Without any further ado we're going to crack on with the main sound magazine of this episode  This is the Vismig Files, the sound identification of autumn pippets here in Sweden. 

 Welcome to another Sound Magazine here at Wild Bird Acoustics. It's mid August right now, and that means that migration has already got underway. Now it started with waders in late July. From the view of passerine migration, mid August is the beginning of species passing, such as Western Yellow Wagtail and Tree Pippet.

And what I thought I'd like to do in this magazine is just run through one of my favourite groups of species on autumn migration, and that is the Pippets.  Now here in the section which I call the VisMig files, we're going to run through species that are typical on visible migration. That is diurnal migration, typically early in the mornings.

And this is a form of boarding that I just love to do in the autumn. I like to just sit out at a migration watchpoint and camp words as they pass overhead. And pippets actually make up a large proportion of the species that pass here in autumn in Sweden. There are several species, some more regular than others, and I just thought it would be very educational to run through a few of those with you today. 

Now, when you're engaged with visible migrations, you're sitting out on a headland or a migration watchpoint. It's very important to know your calls, as quite often this is the main way you will identify species. Sometimes you will see them quite well, but more often than not, the birds are traveling quite quickly and at some distance.

And like I say, you really need to know your calls in order to identify the bulk of the birds that are passing in autumn.  Now, happily, most diurnal migrants are very, very vocal on migration, and this helps us to identify them.  And the pippets are no exception, they're extremely vocal and they call constantly as they pass overhead in the autumn.

And that means if you learn the calls, you'll find it much, much easier to identify them and perhaps find yourself a scarcer species on migration.  Now I'm going to cover five or six species here today that I've come across in Sweden. Some are quite common, some are scarce, and one or two are quite rare.

But these are the species that I have a decent amount of audio of, and I thought I'd share that with you today.  I'm going to start with the most regular, most widespread species in Europe, and that is Meadow Pippet. Now, Meadow Pippets start migrating around September in large numbers, and they continue to migrate right through October.

Like I say, it's one of the commoner species in Europe, and it's call everybody should know. Quite often here in Sweden, at a good site, you will get hundreds of these birds in the morning. And on a big morning, you could even get thousands of birds passing south.  Meadow Pippa typically pass in loose, small flocks, and they never really ball up in tight flocks.

And this is something you need to concentrate on as well, when you become more experienced in visible migration. Birds often flock in different manners, and like I say, Meadow Pippa kind of fly by in loose flocks calling to each other. Now the typical call for these species is a typical high seep. And occasionally they give multiple calls as well.

And we're going to run through some audio now from Sweden in the autumn.  Now, the first recording on the plate for you is a typical recording of the species, and it's of a number of birds passing at Landsort on the 4th of October 2022.  In the background is a few white wagtail, also a single tree pipit call and a few other species, including Eurasian siskin.

Have a listen to this. 

Next up, another typical recording of Meadow Pippet passing at Lansart in late September 2022. Listen for an early call from a passing reedbunding here, the low nasal call, before a small group of Meadow Pippet pass over. Here you will hear the single calls and also that kind of multiple call that they give on migration. 

Now next up, another typical recording of passing groups of Meadow Pippet. This is dated the 4th of September 2022. And in the background, there's a few blue tit and grey tit on the ground, as well as the odd passing chaffinch giving call. But nearly all of the birds you will hear in this recording are overflying meadow pippet.

This is a very nice recording, and again, it's the typical calls of the species on migration. 

Next up, a recording of a single meadow pippet overflying Lansart on the 21st of September. 2021. 

Another recording of Meadow Pippet now, this time from Hallegern in Vasterbotten in northern Sweden. This is a bird from late September 2022 and we'll have a listen to that now. Once again, Meadow Pippet overflying the recorder. 

So that's Meadow Pippet on auto migration and it's very much a bread and butter species and a very common species on migration all over Europe. So that's the reason you should learn this call. It will be one of those species you come across at almost every VisMig site, and it's important to learn the calls of these common occurring species, just so you can get your ear in, and then when something different goes over, you will focus your attention on that instead.

So, like I say, learn your calls first and start with the common species, and Meadow Pippet is an excellent place to start.  Now, Pippets can be extremely difficult, and one of the species that can give you a lot of trouble, even when you're quite experienced, is Rock Pippet. Now, unless the bird passes quite close and you get a view, quite often distant birds will go down as unidentified.

But Rock Pippet immigration can sound surprisingly like Meadow Pippet, even to the experienced ear. And I don't have many recordings of the species here, and they probably all refer to the subspecies here, Littoralis. But I do have a few recordings, and I'm going to share them with you now.  Now, to my ear, Rock Pippet sounds a little bit more explosive than Meadow Pippet.

It's a little bit more husky, and it just has a slightly different timbre at close range. But like I say, distant birds can be very, very difficult. I'm going to start with some recordings which I took at Angarn reserve a couple of springs ago. I think it was 2020 and every year in March we get a pronounced passage of birds here in Stockholm.

So these are the calls of Rock Pippet from Angarn reserve in Sweden. Have a close listen to this and then compare it to earlier Meadow Pippet calls. 

Now also from Angarn Reserve, here's a recording of the single call of Rock Pippet. Now technically these birds were actually on the ground flying around and they weren't actually passage migrants. But as I don't have a lot of material for Rock Pippet,  I thought these recordings would be quite helpful.

So we'll listen to that now. This is Rock Pippet, once again at Angarn Reserve. in Sweden. 

Now here is a couple of calls from a passing rock pippet on migration. This was taken at Landsort in 2022 and it's quite a nice recording of a bird giving single calls. 

Now another recording of a vismig rock pippet for you this time from Landsort and this is from late September 2021. It's quite difficult sometimes to describe verbally the difference between bird calls but if you listen carefully to this and then listen back to meadow pippet. Meadow Pippet is a bit higher and cleaner and shorter sounding.

This bird's call sounds a little bit longer in delivery, a little bit huskier, and just has a subtly different quality. A little bit louder sometimes at close range, but again, it's one of those things you have to get experience of.  So this is Rock Pippet Landsort on migration in late September  2021. 

Now we're going to move on to another species now. It's very common here in Sweden, and that is Tree Pippet. Now, tree pippet is quite a sought after migrant at some vismig sites, especially in the UK, Ireland and other areas, perhaps where the bird isn't as common. But in continental Europe, it actually travels in large numbers during the day.

And now these birds are very vocal. It gives a nasal buzzing call quite often singly. And on occasion, it gives multiple calls. This is a call I would recommend you learn if you're going to do any kind of vismig watching as it's a very satisfying bird to pick out on call. Early in the morning. Now, these birds actually migrate early and quite often peak in late August and early September here in Sweden.

They can go through in large numbers around the peak, which I think here is about the 25th of August. So it wouldn't be that unusual to get a few hundred birds in a morning here. Now, happily, I have quite a bit of audio of this species, so I'll be sharing that with you and hopefully it can give you a nice little head start if you want to learn these cults. 

I'm going to start by playing you a recording from Lansart. It's quite a long recording of multiple birds going over the recorder. In the background, as there often is, you will hear White Whitetail. And another species which is often recorded close to tree pippet is yellow wagtail. But in this recording, it's a lot of tree pippets going over and a handful of white wagtail.

Have a listen to this. This is the typical calls of tree pippet. on migration. 

Now, in the next recording, also taken at Lansart, this was on the 5th of September  2022, you have multiple tree pippets going overhead early in the morning around 6am. In the background, again, white wagtails and somewhere close to the recorder, probably on the ground, is a calling willow warbler. Have a listen to this folks.

Again, the typical buzzing calls of migrating tree pitch. 

Next, I have a recording for you from the 11th of September, 2022. Again, it's migrating tree pitch, but this time it's from Hallegern in Västerbotten in northern Sweden. In the background, there's some calling hooded crow, also some migrating siskin, a few chaffinch, and also brambling. But the main species here, once again, is migrating treepit.

It's a little bit quieter up there, and this makes for a slightly nicer view. quiet recording. Have a listen. 

The next recording is also from Halligarn in Vasterbotten. It's from late August 2022 and it's a particularly nice recording. I think this bird possibly landed somewhere on the island giving some calls. But as it's so close up and the call is so clear, I thought I'd just add it here. So this is Calling Tree Pippet at Halligarn in Vasterbotten. 

Now last, I'm going to play you a beautiful recording of tree pippet migrating over Halligan in Vasterbotten in a light rain. And on this particular morning, I got an awful lot of birds moving over the island. And the nice thing was, because it was raining, they were low down. And the calls that were recorded on my SM mini recorder were nice and clear.

So have a listen to this. This is tree pippets on migration in the rain at Halligan in Vasterbotten. 

Now we're going to move on to a scarce species here in Sweden. It's a rarity in other parts of Europe and it is Red throated Pippet. Now this bird occurs in late August and early September in about a two week window, generally speaking. And they come through in a kind of short burst of migration. And that is a time of year I always try and get out and record as much as possible.

I love the species, I love the call, and it's something I've made great efforts to record over the last five or six years.  The call is very, very high in pitch. And to me, it's a call that most birders could learn quite easily. I think if more birders were aware of this call, actually more birds would be picked up around Europe.

It's a species I always pick up and call. It's quite difficult to see in general. And when it's on the ground, it's quite secretive, quite often in long grasses and stubble fields and things like that. So generally speaking, to find a lot of these birds, you need to know the call. And I'm going to run through some audio with you now.

And happily, I have quite a few nice recordings of these species on active migration.  First up, here's a typical recording of red throated pipit passing over Lansart in early September 2021.  Listen for the very, very high call, which is longer than both tree pipit and meadow pipit. It's quite distinctive once you get your ear in. 

Next, I have a lovely recording for you of Red throated Pippet at Halligern in Vasterbotten in 2022. This bird passed in late August. And it left a lovely recording of three to four calls on the recorder. Again, you will hear the high call much higher in pitch than three pipit. So have a listen to this, folks.

This is red throated pipit at Hallagern. The 

next recording also of red throated pipit is very nice indeed. It's from Landsort and it's a bird flying over the recorder and leaving several calls on this occasion. So we'll have a listen to this next. Once again, this is red throated pipit. at Landsort in early September  2022. 

Now the last recording I have for you of Red throated Pippet is quite subtle and it's from Hallegern in northern Sweden. Now in this one you're going to hear a lot of red crossbill moving northwest and that is a feature of late August in this area. Birds are quite often moving around and on this occasion they seem to be  Towards Finland and on several mornings I had 800 to 1300 birds moving in that direction.

So that was quite amazing in itself. But also on this morning there was a lovely red throated pipit which went southeast and I picked up a couple of calls on the SM mini recorder. So we'll have a listen to that now and there's a lovely ambience here in this recording and I thought I'd just leave this one until last. 

Listen carefully here for the calls of a migrating red throated pipit. 

Now I've got a couple more species for you and they are both rarities and I actually debated whether to put these in at all, to be honest, because they are so rare, but I thought actually it would be very interesting for some of you out there to have a listen to these recordings. Now the first species I'm going to deal with is Richard's Pipit.

And it's a species I've recorded twice now on migration in autumn here in Sweden. Both of the recordings actually come from Landsart, and it's an excellent site for the species. I think I've seen four birds there now in the last 20 years or so, and I've managed to record two of them. So that was a bit of a result.

Now, the first bird went by just over 10 years ago, and I got a recording at my prabala up on the lighthouse. And I was just lucky on the morning that I got this bird passing south and I got a reasonable recording of the bird.  Now, in this recording, you're going to hear the explosive calls of Richard's Pippet as it passes the lighthouse early that morning in the background, some excited birders, and it's quite an amazing call.

To me, it sounds like a sparrow on steroids, but have a listen to this. This is Richard's Pippet just passing by the lighthouse on Landshort a number of years ago. 

Richard's Pippet is an eastern vagrant. It breeds over in Siberia and Asia. And as a result, it's extremely rare in Europe. However, every year, a small number are seen around Europe. And if you're very fortunate, you may get one going over your head some morning when you're sitting out watching migration. 

Now, for me, this is a very special species. Generally speaking, they go through from mid October onwards and they can be quite late. They can occur into November. And that is exactly what happened with this next recording. Now, this is a passive recording. I wasn't there for this one. But on this occasion, a Richards Pippet went right over my SM mini recorder at Landsort in Sweden.

I think the date is around the 9th of November or something like that. So as I already mentioned, this species can occur quite late into the autumn.  Have a listen to this. This is Richards Pippet once again. 

So that's the very distinctive call of Richards Pippet on migration. But the species I'm going to deal with now is not quite as distinctive. In actual fact, it's extremely difficult unless you get quite close to the bird. Now, generally speaking, if this bird goes over your head and calls, you're probably not going to identify it on call.

You may have some suspicions if you're quite experienced with the species. But generally speaking, you will have to look at a sonogram. And that's why I always say, if you're out watching visible migration, have a recorder running nearby. Even if it's just a handheld digital recorder, quite often this will be enough to actually clinch an identification of a species such as the next one, and that is olive backed pipit.

Now, olive backed pipit is another Siberian Asian species. It's very, very rare in Europe, but in 2022, around Europe, there was a large amount of records and in actual fact, I did pick up four birds here in Sweden. myself. I'm going to run through a few of those recordings with you now. The bird is very similar sounding to tree pippet.

Generally speaking, it can be a little bit higher, but quite often I've found not necessarily so. And the best indication of an olive black pippet is a descending aspect to the end of the call. They can sound a little bit high, but again, not always. So, like I say, it's a very, very difficult species and one I would actually use a sonogram to actually confirm. 

Now, the first recording I'm going to play for you was a diurnal bird that went over my head whilst I was actually out birding at Halligarn in Vasterbotten. And on the morning, I was just watching visible migration when this pippet came in calling straight over my head and continued south straight over the  Now, it went over quite close to me and  something about the call just niggled me.

I had a feeling on the morning it could possibly be an olive backed pipet. I had a view of the two binoculars. It looked quite large in the field and actually quite dark as well. And very, very tidy underneath, just with a nice gat of streaks. But it wasn't until I got home and checked the sonogram that I was able to confirm this bird as an olive back pt. 

Now, I did have my binaural recorder out that day, happily, and I was able to confirm the bird as a result of that. So I played a recording. Now this is all about pivot in early October, 2022 at Halligan. in Västerbotten, Sweden. 

Now in 2022, I did have a couple of nocturnal birds as well, but the other bird I got during the day occurred at Landsort, and this bird I think went over on the 14th of October 2022.  And once again, it was quite easy to identify the species. As it was a decent recording and it left a clear sonogram. So if you do get a decent recording of this species call in the field, it's usually identifiable to olive backed pipit.

And that is what I recommend if you're out watching migration, have a recorder running, like I said. Now I'll give you a listen to this recording. This is a very nice recording of an olive backed pipit just migrating over my recorder at Landsort in Sweden. 

Now unfortunately for me, that's all the recordings I have of various pipit species. around Sweden. There are some other species I'm very interested in recording, such as water pippet, maybe blithe's pippet if I'm very, very lucky. And of course, there's other possibilities as well from the Far East, but they're all extremely rare.

So we'll see what happens in the future. Tawny pippet is actually another species that breeds in Sweden, but it has become extremely rare and it's only really found now in the far south of Sweden. So I may have to travel to record that species on migration. Probably the best thing to do would be going out to Spain, somewhere like Gibraltar, and record it there.

But like I say, around Europe, Pippets provide fantastic value while you're watching Visible Migration. And they are one of my favorite species groups at that time of the year, and that's partially due to their vocalizations and calls. So I hope you have enjoyed this section, and my hope is that it's quite educational for some of you.

And it's nice to put these magazines together that people can read. can actually learn from and maybe gain a bit of experience of the autumnal calls of these species on migration. So that was the general idea on putting together this autumn pippets on migration sound magazine.  If I'm honest, it's quite time consuming to put these pieces together as I have to gather up a lot of audio, but I think it's been worth the effort and I do hope you have enjoyed it. 

So if you do want to hear more of this type of thing, just let me know at wildbirdacoustics at gmail. com. com. Currently, I'm just fleshing out the second season of Wild Bird Acoustics in my head. I've done a little bit of work on it already, and it'll be quite interesting to see how that season evolves from the first season here.

And I think it would be quite instructive, actually, if I can gather enough audio to actually do more sections like this.  So that's been Autumn Pippets here on the Wild Bird Acoustics podcast. And I really do hope you have enjoyed it.  We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening. 

 So that brings us to the end of another episode of Wild Bird Acoustics, and I hope you've enjoyed it. As always, you can find us on YouTube by simply searching for Wild Bird Acoustics. We do have a mailing list also, and if you want to be part of that, folks, you can drop us an email at wildbirdacoustics at gmail.

com.  Now, all feedback is greatly received here at the podcast. And if you'd like to write a review of the podcast, you can do so at the Buzzsprout header page. In addition, if you'd like to make a small financial donation to the podcast, you can do so using the buy me a coffee button. And you'll find that also on the Buzzsprout header page. 

We'll be back in a couple of weeks with more from Wild Bird Acoustics. Until then, take it easy folks. And as always, don't be afraid to get out into the field and relax and just listen to the wildlife out there. Maybe even do a little bit of field recording of your own.  We'll talk to you soon folks. Take it easy.

That's all from Wild Bird Acoustics.