RECORDING 1
DATE/TIME: 20/june/2004 (9 a.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: The bird is cached in a thick bush near a road. Zone characterized by open grassland, shrubs, bushes and copses, near Mount Labbro. - POSITION: Mount Labbro, LAT. N. 42 48'/LONG. E 11 33' - ALTITUDE: +1000 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: Full song - SEX/AGE: adult male. - COMMENT: The spectrogram in the red square corresponds to the audio sample. Two further spectrograms represent two different phrases from the same song bout. - MIC: (A)
recording 1 (61 KB) - * - spectrogram 1 (62 KB)
RECORDING 2
DATE/TIME: 30/april/2005 (11 a.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: The bird is perched on a small bush. Zone with grassland and bushes near Mount Labbro. - POSITION: Mount Labbro, LAT. N. 42 48'/LONG. E 11 33' - ALTITUDE: +1000 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: Full song - SEX/AGE: adult male. - MIC: (A)
recording 2 (63 KB) - * - spectrogram 2 (22 KB)
RECORDING 3
DATE/TIME: 30/april/2005 (11 a.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: Same bird as above in the same place. - POSITION: Mount Labbro, LAT. N. 42 48'/LONG. E 11 33' - ALTITUDE: +1000 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: distinctive (anxious?) calls when perched - SEX/AGE: adult male. - COMMENT: I am close to the Whitethroat and this probably elicits these calls. - MIC: (A)
recording 3 (278 KB) - * - spectrogram 3 (22 KB)
RECORDING 4
DATE/TIME: 30/april/2005 (11 a.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: Same bird as above in the same place. - POSITION: Mount Labbro, LAT. N. 42 48'/LONG. E 11 33' - ALTITUDE: +1000 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: high intensity alarm call - SEX/AGE: adult male. - COMMENT: probably it has the nest nearby and reacts to my presence. - MIC: (A)
recording 4 (139 KB) - * - spectrogram 4 (34 KB)
RECORDING 5
DATE/TIME: 19/june/2005 (11.45 a.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: One bird is perched on a telephone wire above a pasture with small bushes. - POSITION: Monte Buceto, Arcidosso, LAT. N. 42° 51'/LONG. E 11° 29' - ALTITUDE: +1050 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: full song - SEX/AGE: adult male. - COMMENT: Cirl bunting song in background. - MIC: (A)
recording 5 (389 KB) - * - spectrogram 5 (85 KB)
RECORDING 6
DATE/TIME: 22/may/2010 (7.30 p.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: The bird - not in sight - is hidden in a thick hedgerow in an open mountain zone with stony meadows. - POSITION: Selvena, LAT. N. 42° 46'/LONG. E 11° 40' - ALTITUDE: +970 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: full song - SEX/AGE: adult male. - COMMENT: note the decreasing lenght of the song phrases. Background: Blue Tit, Nightingale and crickets. - MIC: (P)
recording 6 (214 KB) - * - spectrogram 6 (40 KB)
RECORDING 7
DATE/TIME: 14/june/2011 (4.45 p.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: The bird - not in sight - is hidden in a thick hedgerow between a cemetry and a forest. - POSITION: German cemetry at Futa pass, Firenzuola (FI), LAT. N. 44° 06'/LONG. E 11° 16' - ALTITUDE: +940 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: full song - SEX/AGE: adult male. - COMMENT: The last song phrase was aborted. Background: Chaffinch song. - MIC: (P)
recording 7 (335 KB) - * - spectrogram 7 (49 KB)
RECORDING 8
DATE/TIME: 15/june/2011 (11.30 a.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: The bird - well in sight - is perched on a dead branch of a tree. At first it sings when perched and then it performs a song flight. Wide mountain valley with meadows, hedgerows and mixed woods. - POSITION: Near Fratte, Firenzuola (FI), LAT. N. 44° 08'/LONG. E 11° 15' - ALTITUDE: +850 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: full song and song flight. - SEX/AGE: adult male. - COMMENT: note the striking difference between the song phrases of the perched bird and the song flight (last long phrase). Background: crickets, Great Tit song and Buzzard calls. - MIC: (P)
recording 8 (442 KB) - * - spectrogram 8 (118 KB)
RECORDING 9
DATE/TIME: 15/june/2011 (1 p.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: Same place as above. The bird is hidden in a thick hedgerow of blackthorn near a barley field. - POSITION: Near Fratte, Firenzuola (FI), LAT. N. 44° 08'/LONG. E 11° 15' - ALTITUDE: +850 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: full song, subsong and one call. - SEX/AGE: adult male. - COMMENT: I have seen this bird perched on the top of the hedgerow shortly before beginning the recording. There are short song phrases (truncated?) alternated with subsong and full song phrases (see spectrograms). At 1'26" there is one call. Background: Cirl Bunting song, Blackbird, Great Tit and Chiffchaff. - MIC: (P)
recording 9 (1513 KB) - * - spectrogram 9 (275 KB)
RECORDING 10
DATE/TIME: 25/april/2012 (11.30 a.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: The bird - not in sight - is perched on a hedgerow between grazed meadows. - POSITION: Pescinello, near Roccalbegna, LAT. N. 42° 48'/LONG. E 11° 31' - ALTITUDE: +930 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: full song. - SEX/AGE: adult male. - COMMENT: The original recording was cut down in several parts (see time axis of the spectrograms). Background: Nightingale, Hooded Crow. - MIC: (P)
recording 10 (572 KB) - * - spectrogram 10 (123 KB)
RECORDING 11
DATE/TIME: 3/may/2015 (3 p.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: The bird - well in sight - is perched on the top of some thick bushes in a bushy ground with small trees between pastures and meadows. - POSITION: Monte Aquilaia, near Stribugliano, LAT. N. 42° 51'/LONG. E 11° 28' - ALTITUDE: +900 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: full song. - SEX/AGE: adult male. - COMMENT: The time interval between the first and the second song phrase has been reduced (true interval = 25 s). Background: Blackbird, Cukoo, insect noise. See comments below. - MIC: (P)
recording 11 (362 KB) - * - spectrogram 11 (67 KB)
RECORDING 12
DATE/TIME: 3/may/2015 (3.15 p.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: Same place as above and same bird (in sight), which has been stimulated with playback of its own song. - POSITION: Monte Aquilaia, near Stribugliano, LAT. N. 42° 51'/LONG. E 11° 28' - ALTITUDE: +900 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: full song, song flight and call (?). - SEX/AGE: adult male. - COMMENT: this bird has a vocalization quite different from the previous recordings (see also Recording 11 of this same bird). Its song phrases are longer, more varied and more complex than the other Whitethroats. This seems a case of "aberrant song" which incorporates elements of other Sylvia warblers (in this case maybe S. melanocephala, S. cantillans, S. conspicillata and others; see Cramp S., Birds of the Western Palearctic Vol. VI). It is possible that this aberrant song, , which is more evident in Recording 12 than in Recording 11, was stimulated by playback. At 24" and 53" there are two strange vocalizations, maybe unusual calls or aborted song phrases (see spectrograms). Background: Nightingale, barking dog. - MIC: (P)
recording 12 (1165 KB) - * - spectrogram 12 (448 KB)
RECORDING 13
DATE/TIME: 20/may/2015 (7 a.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: One bird - well in sight - is perched on the top of a small dead tree in an uncultivated field. - POSITION: Cernaia, near Grosseto, LAT. N. 42° 48'/LONG. E 11° 02' - ALTITUDE: 0 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: full song, subsong (?). - SEX/AGE: adult male. - COMMENT: this is a rare case of Whitethroat found in the lowland of Maremma. The first song phrase is long and not loud, maybe it is a subsong. The following phrases are typical for the species. The recording was interrupted for 40 s (see spectrograms). - MIC: (P)
recording 13 (429 KB) - * - spectrogram 13 (84 KB)
RECORDING 14
DATE/TIME: 14/may/2016 (5 p.m.) - IDENTIFICATION AND BEHAVIOUR: The bird is hidden - not in sight - in a small bush. Zone with pastures, hedgerows, mixed copses and fruit trees. - POSITION: Gerfalco, LAT. N. 43° 09'/LONG. E 10° 58' - ALTITUDE: +790 m. - VOCALIZATION TYPE: alarm call. - SEX/AGE: unknown. - MIC: (P)
recording 14 (91 KB) - * - spectrogram 14 (26 KB)