“I heard and recorded a number of Dollarbirds (Eurystomus orientalis orientalis) calls and observed their relationship to family interactions. One call that has not been mentioned in most sources is the Juvenile Food-Begging-Call. Above shows a sonogram/waveform and an audio recording is present: HERE This is a fast call, given at 10 calls per second and lasts from a few seconds (4-5 seconds) to up to 15 seconds. The individual call lasts 0.1 seconds and the space between calls is also 0.1 seconds. The sonogram shows that this is a discrete, repetitive, sharp, multi-tiered call of 10-11 kHz frequency. The recording initially has one juvenile calling followed by the second joining in, intermittently. (In the recording you can hear an Asian Koel and Coppersmith Barbet faintly in the background).
“The image above shows the juvenile’s posture when making the begging calls.
“As the family was separated by workmen appearing I also had the opportunity to hear a Parent-Calling-Juveniles-Call. Below shows a sonogram/waveform and an audio recording is present: HERE. The parent had obtained a prey and was on a perch looking for the two juveniles to feed them. It gave this call intermittently with no apparent order or rhythm. These discrete 8-9 kHz frequency calls last 0.1-0.15 seconds and are homogeneous on sonogram. This went on for about 1 minute and then the bird flew off to look for the juveniles. (In the recording you can hear bee-eaters and bulbuls in the background).
“A call I heard only once was an Alarm-Call. This was given once when the workmen arrived. The image below shows a sonogram/waveform and an audio recording is present: HERE This was a two note, scratchy call lasting 0.7 seconds and of a much higher frequency. The juveniles reacted to the call by flying off immediately, followed by the parent.
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
9th March 2019
Location: Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Habitat: Urban environment
