SOUNDS OF AFRICAM
B I R D S
All sounds recorded from Africam.com
QUICKLIST
African Barred Owlet ♦ African Green Pigeon ♦ African Hoopoe ♦ African Jacana ♦ African Fish Eagle ♦ African Grey Hornbill ♦ African Scops Owl ♦ Arrow-marked Babbler
Barn Owl ♦ Black Cuckoo ♦ Blacksmith Lapwing ♦ Black-backed Puffback ♦ Black-collared Barbet ♦ Black-crowned Tchagra ♦ Black-headed Oriole ♦ Bronze-winged Courser ♦ Brown-headed Parrot ♦ Brown-hooded Kingfisher ♦ Burchell's Coucal ♦ Burchell's Starling ♦ Brubru ♦
Cape Turtle Dove ♦ Coqui Francolin ♦ Crested Barbet ♦ Crested Francolin ♦ Crowned Lapwing ♦ Chin-spot Batis ♦
Diderick Cuckoo ♦ Double-banded Sandgrouse ♦
Egyptian Goose ♦ Emerald-spotted Wood Dove ♦
Fiery-necked Nightjar ♦ Fork-tailed Drongo ♦
Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling ♦ Greater Honeyguide ♦ Grey go-away-bird ♦ Grey-headed Bush Shrike ♦ Grey heron ♦
Hadeda Ibis ♦ Hamerkop ♦ Helmeted Guineafowl ♦
Klaas's Cuckoo ♦ Kurrichane Trush
Laughing Dove ♦ Levaillant's Cuckoo ♦ Lilac-breasted Roller ♦ Lizard Buzzard
Painted Snipe (greater) ♦ Pearl-spotted Owlet ♦ Pied Crow ♦ Purple-crested Lourie ♦
Rattling Cisticola ♦ Red-backed Shrike ♦ Red-billed Hornbill ♦ Red-billed Oxpecker ♦ Red-billed Quelea ♦ Redbilled or Green Wood-hoopoe ♦ Red-chested Cuckoo ♦ Red-eyed Dove ♦
Senegal Lapwing ♦ Shelley's Francolin ♦ Southern Boubou ♦ Southern Ground Hornbill ♦ Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill ♦ Square-tailed Nightjar ♦ Swainson's Spurfowl ♦
Verreaux's Giant Eagle Owl ♦ Village Weaver ♦
Wahlberg's Eagle ♦ Water thick-knee ♦ Whitecrowned Shrike ♦ White-faced Scops Owl ♦ Woodland Kingfisher ♦ Woodpecker ♦
Glaucidium capense
Repeated fairly high-pitched series of notes "purr purr piu piu piu piu"
Treron Calva
Upupa africanus
sound 2
"hoop-hoop, hoop-hoop-hoop" frequently repeated
Actophilornis africanus
Haliaeetus vocifer
Click here to see a video recording of the African Fish Eagle calling at Nkorho waterhole
Highly vocal, pitch of male higher than that of female.
Tockus nasutus
sound 1
sound 2
A high-pitched whistled call, often calls in chorus
Otus senegalensis
A soft "prrrrrp" repeated at about 10-second intervals
Turdoides jardineii
sound 2
basic sound is "scurr-scurr-scurr" (sound 1)
1 or 2 birds start calling, others join in crescendo, then calling dies away. (sound 2)
Tyto alba
An eerie, loud screech
Cuculus clamosus
Male calls "whoo whoo wheee" likened to "I'm so sick", Female gives a fast "yow-yow-yow-yow-yow"
Blacksmith Lapwing
Vanellus armatus
A metallic "klink klink klink"repeated loudly and continuously
Dyroscopus cubla
Lybius torquatus
Tchagra senegala
Oriolus larvatus
sound 2
Rhinoptilus chalcopterus 
Poicephalus cryptoxantus
Halcyon albiventris
Centropus burchellii
sound 2
A liquid, bubbling "doo-doo-doo-doo" in descending scale, sounding like water running out of a bottle.
Lamprotornis australis
sound 2
sound 3
sound 4
Nilaus afer
Cape Turtle Dove or Ringnecked Dove
Streptopelia capicola
sound 2
"Work harder, work harder"(sound 1)
Also makes a snarling "kerr" on landing. (sound 2)
Peliperdix coqui
Trachyphonus vaillanti
A trilling "trrrrrrrrr...." like a muffled alarm clock
Peliperdix sephaena
A shrill "kwerri-kwetchi, kwerri-kwetchi" sounding like "beer & cognac, beer & cognac"
Vanellus coronatus
sound 2
Batis molitor
Chrysococcyx caprius
Pterocles bcinctus
Alopochen aegyptiaca
sound 2
Turtur chalcospilos
sound 2
sound 3
"du,du ... du-du... du-du-dudu-du-du-du" soft descending and tailing off at the end.
"my mother dead, my father dead, everybody dead dead dead dead"
Caprimulgus pectoralis
sound 2 (duet of Fiery-necked Nightjar and African Scops Owl)
"koo-WEEU, koo-WIririri, also set to words "Good Lord deliver us"
Fork-tailed Drongo
Dicrurus adsimilis
sound 2
also imitates other birdcalls
Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling
Lamprotornis chalybaeus
sound 2
Indicator indicator
Grey go-away Bird
Corythaixoides concolor
a harsh, nasal "kweh-h-h-h or "go way-y-y"
Malaconutus blanchoti
Ardea cinerea
Bostrychia hagedash
sound 2
sound 3 (duet of Hadeda Ibis & Egyptian Goose)
Scopus umbretta
Numida meleagris
Chrysococcyx klaas
"Hueet-jie" repeated 5 or 6 times.
Turdus libonyanus
Streptopelia senegalensis
a bubling "koo-koo-ku-ru-kutu-koo"
Clamator levaillantii
sound 2
a loud "klee-klee-kleeuu" followed by a "tututututututu" descending in scale
Coracias caudata
Kaupifalco monogrammicus
Corvinella melanoleuca
sound 2
Pternistis natalensis
sound 2
Telophorus sulfureopectus
sound 2
Rostratula benghalensis
Glaucidium perlatum
sound 2
Corvus albus
sound 2
sound 3
Musophaga porphyrelopha
Cisticola chiniana
"chi chi chi ch-r-r-r-r-r-" the last syllable with a distinct rattle.
Lanius collurio
on the recording you hear a female calling
Tockus erythrorhynchus
Buphagus erythrorhynchus
Quelea quelea
Red-billed or Green Wood-hoopoe
Phoeniculus purpureus
A loud cackling sound, starting off slowly. Several birds call together, likened to laughter of women.
Cuculus solitarius
3-note call : Wip-wip-weeu, likened to the Afrikaans"Piet-my-vrou", often repeated, female calls "pik-pik-pik-pik"
Streptopelia semitorquata
"coo-coo-coo-koo-cuk-coo" likened to "I am a red-eyed dove"
Vanellus lugubris
sound 2
sound 3
the call is a piping "thi-wit"
Francolinus shelleyi
sound 2
Laniarius ferrugineus
sound 1
sound 2
Bucorvus leadbeateri
the call is a "oomph-oomph" frequently repeated.
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
Tockus leucomelas
a rapid hollow-sounding "tok tok tok tok tok tokatokatoka"
Caprimulgus fossii
Pternistis swainsonii
very loud, harsh crowing, "krrraa krrraa krrraa", repeated 6-7 times
Bycanistes bucinator
very loud braying, laughing, trumpeting, squealing and wailing calls
vocal mostly morning and evening
Bubo lacteus
sound 2
sound 3
Village Weaver
Ploceus cucullatus
Aquila wahlbergi
calls 'kleeeeu" while soaring, contact call is a rapid "kyip-kyip-kyip"
Burhinus vermiculatus
Ptilopsus granti
a bubbling "b-b-b-b-b-bhoooo" repeated
Eurocephalus anguitimens
Halycon senegalensis
a loud "yimp-trrrrrrrrrrrrrr" (sound 1)
Sound 2 : this call is made when sitting close to each other, or when one lands on a branch next to or close to its mate. They usually open their wings slightly and bob up and down when making this call.
Woodpecker (species unknown, knocking)
Serinus mozambicus
Africam mammal/frogs/toads database click here
