Location, Location, Location

Auditioning the vocalizations of the Australian pied butcherbird

Abstract

A soundscape recordist I am not, although when “ideal” conditions present themselves, I make a stab at it. I am immersed in the sound world of another species, and towards that end I make field recordings. My research celebrates the vocalizations of Australia’s pied butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis), a mid-sized black and white songbird known for its habit of impaling prey (such as lizards and small birds) on branches or thorns for later consumption.

Other wildlife recordists were generous in sharing their extant recordings with me, but I quickly discovered the advantages of experiencing pied butcherbird vocal behavior firsthand and making my own recordings. “Jazz is like bananas—it must be consumed on the spot,” Sartre recommends (1947, 48). So too, birdsong. Like the town clock, the dawn chorus is a soundmark (Truax 2001) for birds and humans, an aural counterpoint of events with a wide range of frequencies, amplitudes, timbres, and sound sources. Unlike the town clock, with birdsong there are dramas. Feathered choirs compete intensively for broadcasting space and time. The acoustic complexity in these crisscross patterns is the ultimate in perceptual surround sound. When present, pied butcherbirds make a compelling contribution to the dawn (and pre-dawn) chorus.