Black-hooded Oriole

I love the Bengali name of the black-hooded oriole. Bene Bou. It means the goldsmith's wife. Traditionally they wear a lot of gold ornaments. With its golden colour the bird is quite aptly named. These birds have a wide repertoire of calls. Here are three of them from my collection. 

I recorded the first one at Shyamkhola on a quiet morning. One of those rare occasions when there was no loudspeaker playing in the distance blaring some religious song. 

This is another type of vocalisation recorded at Dhakuria Lake And this is yet another different vocalisation.  CKBS.

Common Iora

I saw and recorded this common iora at Shyamkhola on March 17, 2013. The common iora has a large repertoire of calls. This is one of them. This bird responds very well to playback. However, it is unethical to do so during the breeding season. The common iora's display flights is unique. It looks like a fluffy blackish ball when it does that. Hope to catch that sight with the camera some day.

In the background there is a trill of a lineated barbet and the song of a blue-throated barbet in this recording.

Lineated Barbet

Recorded these calls of Lineated Barbet at Shyamkhola last Sunday, 17th March 2013. These are two different vocalisations. While one is common and is often heard, the other one isn't so common. 

While the call above is quite common, the second one isn't as commonly heard. The first one has too much of a blue-throated barbet also calling incessantly, as is their wont. It is impossible to record anything in Bengal during spring without the background sound of this extremely commonly heard bird :-)

Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker

Last Sunday, 17th March 2013 we went to Shyamkhola and Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary near Narendrapur. Here I saw and recorded this fulvous-breasted woodpecker's vocalisation and also the sound it made on the tree trunk with its beak.

Those who might not know - the very first sound that you hear is the call of the woodpecker. It is a very soft chuck chuck sound. Unless you are careful you will soon be drowned in the other calls of background species. The sound of the beak on the trunk is like a creaky door being opened. I hope this helps.