Since coming to Japan we’ve been hearing some very loud birds in the trees and bushes. We haven’t seen them yet and haven’t been able to identify them. They sound a bit like monkeys screaming. Anyone have a clue which birds they are?
Maybe hiyodori? There’s a few different kinds of hiyodori but most of them sound like they’re screaming to me.
> They sound a bit like monkeys screaming.
For a positive ID, you need to be specific–which kind of monkeys?
The Merlin bird identification app has a good tools for identifying birds – you can download the Japanese region data and get lots of photos and bird call samples of local birds.
Probably “Onaga” (azure winged magpie). They always hangout in my garden and sound just like monkeys.
Brown-eared bulbul for sure. I can’t stand their call in autumn.
Fascinating to watch in spring as they hunt insects in the sakura and plum blossom, though. Very smart, very annoying bird.
We have green pheasants living around our place. Their honk/squawk sounds like an unoiled garage door closing.
We used to have a pair of cuckoo’s who had made a nest in the trees across the street that could put up quite the racket.
Mukudori is my guess. They’re interesting birds, kinda like thieves. Active all year round and nice calls. Can be a pain when they roost in the cities cus the shit everywhere. You might hear the noisemakers outside stations or on streets with lots of trees to deter them. They roost there to avoid the Tobi or Hayabusa raptors that attack them.
鶯
Coming from Australia, the birds here are just shit. They’re all jimi AF and sound like a slaughterhouse. Give me some rainbow lorikeets and magpies and an eastern rosella.
Japan’s avian game is WEAK, bro.
I usually describe them as sounding like an animal being tortured. Lately I had a different bird that sounds like a creeping wheel. My neighbors are farmers so I only realized the “wheelbarrow” had been creeking in place after 15min. I looked out the window and sure enough a small bird was making that horrible sound non stop all afternoon.
Now I have lots of trees and birds around (because of a high voltage line right next to me). While a lot of them sound worse than crows, I do have the occasional uguisu that naturally gives a smile in spring in the morning.
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Angry birds? 🐦
Maybe hiyodori? There’s a few different kinds of hiyodori but most of them sound like they’re screaming to me.
> They sound a bit like monkeys screaming.
For a positive ID, you need to be specific–which kind of monkeys?
The Merlin bird identification app has a good tools for identifying birds – you can download the Japanese region data and get lots of photos and bird call samples of local birds.
https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
Probably “Onaga” (azure winged magpie). They always hangout in my garden and sound just like monkeys.
Brown-eared bulbul for sure. I can’t stand their call in autumn.
Fascinating to watch in spring as they hunt insects in the sakura and plum blossom, though. Very smart, very annoying bird.
We have green pheasants living around our place. Their honk/squawk sounds like an unoiled garage door closing.
We used to have a pair of cuckoo’s who had made a nest in the trees across the street that could put up quite the racket.
Mukudori is my guess. They’re interesting birds, kinda like thieves. Active all year round and nice calls. Can be a pain when they roost in the cities cus the shit everywhere. You might hear the noisemakers outside stations or on streets with lots of trees to deter them. They roost there to avoid the Tobi or Hayabusa raptors that attack them.
鶯
Coming from Australia, the birds here are just shit. They’re all jimi AF and sound like a slaughterhouse. Give me some rainbow lorikeets and magpies and an eastern rosella.
Japan’s avian game is WEAK, bro.
I usually describe them as sounding like an animal being tortured. Lately I had a different bird that sounds like a creeping wheel. My neighbors are farmers so I only realized the “wheelbarrow” had been creeking in place after 15min. I looked out the window and sure enough a small bird was making that horrible sound non stop all afternoon.
Now I have lots of trees and birds around (because of a high voltage line right next to me). While a lot of them sound worse than crows, I do have the occasional uguisu that naturally gives a smile in spring in the morning.