“The calls of the common Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus malaccensis) are under-recorded. I saw a pair courting today with the presumed male, excited, with a cocked tail and all hyper-alert towards the female. What was interesting was the vocalisation the bird was making. The bird made these very frequent, regular calls to woo the female. These calls are very unlike the conventional, intermittent ‘chip’ the bird usually makes. These courtship calls have been described as ‘tschip’ by the Thai National Parks, 2019 website LINK.
“In my recording they occurred at 2 calls per second (65 in 30 second recording). Amplified recording HERE – the recording starts off with a few conventional ‘chips’ and then launches into a long series of ‘tschips’ (a Black-naped Oriole in the background). There was no response from the female in the time I was allowed to observe them – they flew off together soon after.”
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
15th May 2019
Location: Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Habitat: Urban environment
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