Long-billed Spiderhunter – vocalisation

The Long-billed Spiderhunter (Arachnothera robusta robusta) is a fairly vocal bird when feeding, when moving from tree to tree or at times calling out from a tall perch. I managed a number of recordings of calls. It is hard to say that any of these are ‘songs’ and most sound like territorial or contact calls. There were two main forms that I heard, both using the same vocalisation but in different ways.

1. The first is a slower, intermittent single, short ‘chit’ or ‘chip’ note (at times 2 notes close together), repeated every 0.5 seconds (I counted 100 notes per minute) and can continue for long durations of a few minutes. A sonogram and waveform of a segment of calls is shown below.

A recording of this slow call type can be heard here: https://www.xeno-canto.org/606575

2. The second is a faster ‘chit’ or ‘chip’ note that comes in rapid runs or bursts of 7-30 notes that is repeated frequently. I counted 300 notes per minute. This can also continue for long durations of a few minutes. I suspect this is territorial call type. A sonogram and waveform of a ‘burst’ is shown below.

A recording of this fast call type can be heard here: https://www.xeno-canto.org/606576

Amar-Singh HSS (Dato’ Dr) – Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

Location: Perak, Malaysia

Habitat: Secondary growth adjacent to limestone outcroppings

Date: 30th November 2020

Equipment: Nikon D500 SLR with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR, handheld with Rode VideoMic Pro Plus Shotgun Microphone