Blackbird Turdus merula
- Gaps
- clear gaps between phrases.
- Repetitions
- flowing phrases, with no serial repeating of the same motif.
- Melody
- a calm, flute-like line, often ending in a higher ornament (the dark block).
Common blackbird, Turdus merula · one recording, 25 s
The first hour of the dawn chorus First hear the comma.
Mark the start and end of each blackbird phrase, and the page will work out the length of phrases and pauses from your markers. In birdsong, the comma is the silence between phrases.
Note: some of the markers are a training example with invented times. They do not describe the recording.
- phrase: start → end
- pause: end → next start (empty space)
- period: two identical markers next to each other
- time cursor
Start playback or set the time by hand. Nothing here is graded or scored.
What your markers show
Markers: 0
- Phrases: no data, no markers.
- Pauses: no data, no markers.
Counted only between neighbouring markers, once they are sorted by time; averages are rounded to 0.1 s. The result describes your clicks; it is not a measurement of the file.
List of markers (readable without sound too)
Recording: Oona Räisänen (Mysid), southern Finland, 21 May 2007, 25 s, noise reduced (description from the previous version of the page). Sound starts only after you click, and the volume is limited to 60%. The file is on Wikimedia Commons; the rights status (previously described as CC0 / public domain) needs to be confirmed on the file page. Listen with headphones and never play recordings in the field: luring birds with artificial sound disturbs them.
Phrase, pause, repetition. Without turning the sound on
Three concepts are enough to read the rest of the page. The blocks are a schematic with no time scale, not a record of the recording.
-
Phrase
A continuous stretch of song between two silences.
-
Pause
The silence from the end of one phrase to the start of the next. You can count it only if you mark both the end and the next start.
-
Repetition
The same motif returns. The song thrush repeats a short motif several times in a row; the blackbird usually does not.
Second listen: does the motif return?
We have one recording, of a blackbird. The song thrush and the great tit appear here only as descriptions from earlier versions of the page and from ornithological literature. There is no sound of them and no synthetic imitation. The three schematics stand side by side so the difference can be seen at once. The length of the blocks is not time.
On gaps: the blackbird leaves clear gaps between phrases, the song thrush shorter gaps between series, the great tit sets a regular, springy rhythm.
Song thrush Turdus philomelos
- Gaps
- shorter gaps between series of repetitions.
- Repetitions
- a short motif returns three or four times, then another appears.
- Melody
- series of three to four repetitions of the same motif.
Great tit Parus major
- Gaps
- a springy, regular rhythm of repetitions.
- Repetitions
- a two-syllable pendulum (“ti-ta ti-ta”) at a steady tempo.
- Melody
- a rhythmic, metallic motif on two syllables, like rocking between two notes (a high and a low block in turn). The great tit’s repertoire is wide, so the absence of this motif does not rule out the species.
The descriptions are listening hints, not a method of identifying species. An ornithologist should still confirm the species and the scope of the phrase descriptions.
The third listen that is not here: overlapping voices
To show how voices overlap, we would need a field recording we have the right to use. We do not have such material, and an artificial chorus built from a single recording would be a pretence of the field. What remains is a sequence from a single source.
- c. 03:00–04:00early group: redstart, song thrush, robin, cuckoo
- c. 04:00–05:00joining: blackbird, wren, great tit, chiffchaff
- c. 05:00–06:00described in the previous version as the full chorus with overlapping voices; the boundary of this phase needs to be checked in the source
An example from an educational trail of Karkonosze National Park (KPN; p. 34), copied from the previous version and not rechecked. It is not a schedule for any particular day or place: the start of singing depends on location and conditions, and wind, cold and fog can delay it. Under artificial lighting the blackbird may start earlier.
The blackbird in the field and the limits of this page
Rules for quiet listening
- Headphones are for learning at home. In the field, do not play recordings, so as not to disturb birds or interfere with the defence of broods.
- Stay on a lawful path or bench, do not enter thickets and do not look for nests.
- Silence at dawn does not mean there are no birds. Stay in one place and note the quality of the sound: whether the phrase is flute-like or repeated in series, whether the pause lasts a second or longer.
The male blackbird sings from elevated spots, for example treetops and roofs. Spring song serves to defend a territory and attract a mate, so do not carry a lowland calendar over without adjusting for altitude and local climate. These descriptions come from the previous version and await confirmation. We do not embed a photograph of the blackbird, because the page is meant to work offline. An original photograph of a male (Andreas Trepte, Heligoland, not the Giant Mountains (Karkonosze)) is on Wikimedia Commons.
What is a model, and what is missing
- The only recording is of the blackbird. The song thrush and great tit schematics are descriptions of features, not a record of sound.
- The marker tool measures your clicks. It does not identify species from sound and does not assess your hearing, which is why there are no points.
- A missing phrase-end marker means no data about the pause, not a pause equal to zero.
- The example with markers has invented times and is labelled as such.
What was removed from the previous version
- The species quiz: knowledge should not be a reward for passing a test. It was replaced by a comparison of three patterns at once.
- The walk planner with browser storage and printout: it did not belong to the listening path. What remains are the three rules alongside and no data saving.
- The clock slider and the species selection list: the slider only swapped captions, and the list hid the comparison. The clock is a fixed sequence, and the comparison is visible in full.
- A photograph loaded from the internet: the page works without a network.
Sources and status
The links were carried over from the previous version. They were not opened or checked in this step, so treat them as a pointer, not a confirmation.
- Karkonosze National Park: trail through forest ecosystems [Karkonoski Park Narodowy: ścieżka po ekosystemach leśnych], p. 34The bird clock and approximate time frames of singing. To check: exact groups and hours.
- RSPB: The Dawn ChorusThe course of the morning chorus in Great Britain and the function of mating song. To check: transfer to Polish conditions.
- RSPB: Bird Song IdentifierDescriptions of the blackbird’s flute, the song thrush’s repetitions and the great tit’s motifs. To check: the wording in the schematics.
- Blackbird recording, Oona Räisänen (Mysid), Wikimedia CommonsPlayed only on request from the Commons server; it is not part of the page file. To confirm: licence (CC0 or public domain), length of 25 s, place and date.
- Photograph of a male blackbird, Andreas Trepte, Wikimedia CommonsA link only; the photograph is not embedded. To confirm: licence (previously described as CC BY-SA 2.5).
The schematics on this page (the marker timeline, the blocks of phrases and pauses) are original V3 illustrations. The correctness of the species and of the phrase descriptions needs confirmation by an ornithologist.