By Magnus Robb, Lukas Pelikan & The Sound Approach

Ring Ouzel

Nocturnal flight calls of Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus are never common but always striking. One NFC is enough to awaken any half-asleep listener with a jolt. Night totals rarely exceed a handful, but many of us are in with a chance. Ring Ouzels breed in remote, mountainous habitats from arctic Scandinavia to southern Europe and winter in the Mediterranean region, meaning that almost anywhere in Europe one could pass overhead at night. But in practice, a complex migration strategy leads to migrants being commoner in spring in the west (Cramp 1988).

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Ring Ouzel 
Turdus torquatus 
Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Portugal, 23:39, 28 November 2019 (GM). Twochrrk-chik-chik-chik-type nocturnal flight calls, both ending withtok units. For a zoomed-in sonagram see d) below. Background: RedwingT iliacus. 191128.MR.233910.02

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Sagres in Portugal is a good location for nocturnal passage, with 75 Ring Ouzels recorded between 2017 and 2020. Most individuals only gave a single call within range of the microphones, sometimes a second after a longish gap, occasionally a third. Four or more calls during a flypast are rare. We have experienced this only on one exceptional night on Menorca, Spain, when over ten individuals passed. It seems likely that the longer call sequences were actually from multiple individuals.

The most common NFC, a raucous chrrk-chik-chik-chik, is a call that Ring Ouzels also use commonly by day on migration and in flight. Every so often they combine this call with another from their repertoire, for example, the series chrrk-chik-chik-chik ends with a deep and knocking tok. The tok units can also be used as NFC separately, on their own. A third NFC is a usually dry-sounding prrrt or prrrt-prrt. A similar note sometimes replaces the first unit of a chrrk-chik-chik-chik. Combined calls lead to the overall perception that NFCs of Ring Ouzels are extremely varied and complex.

We often struggled to assign a recording to any specific call type,. It seems that occasionally, Ring Ouzel NFCs will not fit neatly into our categories. This is especially true for the prrrt-prrt where we found highly diverse examples, presumably with varying levels of excitement. These included some that we have never heard being used as a flight call in daytime (for example, o).

Identification

chrrk-chik-chik-chik

  • a series of 2-6 units of similar pitch (median 4 units; n = 47)
  • units can be transcribed as chrrk, chrek or chik; amount of ‘r’ depends on modulations; sometimes the last unit is a lower-pitched tok
  • units have a ‘Christmas tree’ outline with a tall arch, an M-shaped structure or a few high modulations in the centre; on the sides, a series of harmonics show as gently sloping ‘branches’
  • first unit often stressed, longer, or replaced by a modulated prrrt
  • modulations, when present, typically on first units of call only
  • first unit often longer, 57 – 187 ms (90% range; median 98 ms; n = 43)
  • last unit shorter, 24 – 110 ms (90% range; median 57 ms; n = 42)
  • total call duration 285 – 686 ms (90% range; median 457 ms; n = 47)

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a) Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Portugal, 04:46, 19 November 2017 (GM). Singlechrrk-chik-chik-chik-type flight call of a nocturnal migrant. 171119.MR.044657.01

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b) Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Portugal, 22:35, 4 October 2018 (GM). Single chrrk-chik-chik-chik-type flight call of a nocturnal migrant. 181004.MR.223535.01

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c) Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Portugal, 03:49, 10 November 2017 (GM). Two chrrk-chik-chik-chik-type nocturnal flight calls, both ending with tok units. Note the long gap. Sonagram shows first call. 171110.MR.034930.01

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d) Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Portugal, 23:39, 28 November 2019 (GM). Two chrrk-chik-chik-chik-type nocturnal flight calls, both ending with tok units. Sonagram shows first call. For a zoomed-out sonagram see top of page. Background: Redwing T iliacus. 191128.MR.233910.02

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e) Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Portugal, 00:50, 14 November 2019 (GM). Single chrrk-chik-chik-chik-type flight call of a nocturnal migrant with modulated units. 191114.MR.005030.02

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f) Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Es Castell, Menorca, Spain, 02:37, 13 October 2020 (Magnus Robb). Single chrrk-chik-chik-chik-type flight call of a nocturnal migrant with modulated units. Background: European Tree Cricket Oecanthus pellucens. 201013.MR.023746.01

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g) Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Cabriz, Sintra, Portugal, 02:16, 30 October 2011 (Magnus Robb).  Single chrrk-chik-chik-chik-type flight call of a nocturnal migrant. 111030.MR.021654.02

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h) Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Portugal, 19:47, 1 November 2018 (GM). Single chrrk-chik-chik-chik-type flight call of a nocturnal migrant. 181101.MR.194730.12

Effects of recording quality

  • At close range, an even wider frequency range will reach the listener.
  • At distance, the frequency range will seem slightly narrower, and any final tok may escape attention. In sonagrams the ‘Christmas tree’ pattern may be hardly recognisable.

 

toktoktoktok

  • from three to seven identical tok units (median 5; n = 8)
  • untidy, 'splattered' rhythmic pattern; sometimes more than one series in quick succession (j), or a cluster followed by a single tok (i)
  • individual tok very short and a little 'wooden'-sounding
  • when magnified in sonagrams, shows a vertical concentration of energy on the left side and a series of many downward-sloping bands on the right
  • first tok has duration 29 - 44 ms (90% range; median 34 ms; n = 8)

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i) Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Portugal, 03:51, 24 November 2018 (GM). Two toktoktoktok-type flight calls of a nocturnal migrant. 181124.MR.035126.21

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j) Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Portugal, 05:09, 23 October 2018 (GM). Two-part toktoktoktok-type flight call of a nocturnal migrant. Background: European Robin Erithacus rubecula. 181023.MR.050920.02

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k) Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Es Castell, Menorca, Spain, 02:30, 13 October 2020 (Magnus Robb). Single toktoktoktok-type flight call of a nocturnal migrant, with a longer unit in the middle. Background: Song Thrush T philomelos and European Tree Cricket Oecanthus pellucens. 201013.MR.023024.01

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l) Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Portugal, 03:15, 17 October 2020 (GM). Two rapid-fire toktoktoktok-type flight calls of a nocturnal migrant. 201017.MR.031553.02

Effects of recording quality

  • At close range, an even wider frequency range will reach the listener.
  • At distance, the frequency range will seem slightly narrower and measurements of duration will give slightly shorter values: the weakest final milliseconds will be lost.

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More nocmig Ring Ouzel sounds on next page

Further reading and sounds