Ten fabulous dawn choruses to celebrate International Dawn Chorus Day, 3 May 2020

To celebrate International Dawn Chorus Day 2020, we are presenting you with 32 minutes of dawn chorus recordings from around the Western Palearctic region. We have strung them all together for continuous listening. They are in chronological order, by hours of the morning. As far as we remember, all but the last one have never previously appeared in any previous Sound Approach publication. Enjoy!

00:00 – 01:07

03:00, Floodplain of the Lena near Yakutsk, Yakutia, Russia, 30 May 2004

Dawn chorus dominated by song of a Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola and drumming of Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago. Also featuring Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola and Siberian Rubythroat Calliope calliope (Magnus Robb).

01:09 – 02:05

04:18, Möklinta parish, Uppsala, Sweden, 18 April 2012

A roding Eurasian Woodcock Scolopax rusticola flies over a pre-dawn chorus of Song Thrush Turdus philomelos and European Robin Erithacus rubecula (Magnus Robb).

02:07 – 04:04

04:54, Middlebere farm, Poole Harbour, Dorset, UK, 14 May 2010

A very full dawn chorus featuring Canada Goose Branta canadensis, Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus, Common Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus, Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Water Rail Rallus aquaticus, Carrion Crow Corvus corone, Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus, Common Whitethroat Sylvia communis, Eurasian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus, Eurasian Wren Troglodytes troglodytes, Common Blackbird Turdus merula, Song Thrush T philomelos, Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs and European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis (Mark Constantine).

04:06 – 07:06

04:58, Demirkazik, Nigde, Turkey, 17 May 2014

Dawn chorus in a canyon in the Taurus mountains, near a nomad’s camp, mostly featuring Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros and Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius, with contributions from Eurasian Scops Owl Otus scops, Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca and Rock Bunting Emberiza cia (Arnoud B van den Berg).

07:08 – 10:04

05:12, Akamas peninsula, Cyprus, 21 April 2019

Three singing Cyprus Wheatears Oenanthe cypriaca perform songflights over scrub-covered slopes at dawn, with Chukar Alectoris chukar, Cyprus Scops Owl Otus cyprius, Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus and Cetti’s Warbler Cettia cetti (Magnus Robb).

10:06 – 14:17

05:26, De Biesbosch, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands, 25 May 2016

A rich dawn chorus in freshwater marshland with slow rivers, lakes, pools and willow and poplar woods, featuring Canada Goose Branta canadensis, Greylag Goose Anser anser, Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiacus, Mallard Anas platyrhynchos, Canada Goose Branta canadensis, Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus, Common Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus, Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Eurasian Coot Fulica atra, European Herring Gull Larus argentatus, Carrion Crow Corvus corone, Eurasian Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla, Garden Warbler S borin, Eurasian Wren Troglodytes troglodytes and Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos (Mark Constantine).

14:19 – 17:29

06:11, Ayn Hamran, Dhofar, Oman, 6 March 2017

A dawn chorus on well-vegetated slopes near a perennial spring, with Arabian Partridge Alectoris melanocephala, Laughing Dove Streptopelia senegalensis, White-spectacled Bulbul Pycnonotus xanthopygos, Graceful Prinia Prinia gracilis, Abyssinian White-eye Zosterops abyssinicus and Cinnamon-breasted Bunting Emberiza tahapisi (Magnus Robb).

17:31 – 20:56

06:21, Alares, Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal, 2 May 2015

A rich dawn chorus recorded in an abandoned village surrounded by open oak wood, featuring Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto, Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops, Eurasian Golden Oriole Oriolus oriolus, Iberian Magpie Cyanopica cooki, Eurasian Magpie Pica pica, Great Tit Parus major, Thekla’s Lark Galerida theklae, Spotless Starling Sturnus unicolor, Mistle Thrush Turdus viscivorus, Western Black-eared Wheatear Oenanthe hispanica and Corn Bunting Emberiza calandra (Magnus Robb).

20:58 – 26:26

06:22, Ifrane, El Hajeb, Western Middle Atlas, Morocco, 1569 m, 16 June 2015

Rolling songs and kaka calls of European Roller Coracias garrulus resonate from the treetops of the Forêt de Jaaba, with a dawn chorus including Common Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus, Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major, Maghreb Treecreeper Certhia (brachydactyla) mauritanica, Spotless Starling Sturnus unicolor, Atlas Flycatcher Ficedula speculigera, Rock Sparrow Petronia petronia and Atlas Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs speculigera (Arnoud B van den Berg).

26:28 – 31:57

07:00, Bialowieza forest, Podlaskie, Poland, 29 April 2003

A proper mature mixed woodland chorus, two hours after sunrise, with Common Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus, Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Grey-headed Woodpecker Picus canus, Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker Picoides tridactylus, Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopus major, White-backed Woodpecker D leucotos­, Eurasian Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus, Marsh Tit Poecile palustris, Bohemian Waxwing Bombycilla garrulus, Great Tit Parus major, Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea, Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris, Common Blackbird Turdus merula, Collared Flycatcher Ficedula albicollis and Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs (Mark Constantine).