KENYA: Did that Bird really say that?

The distinctive high pitched yelps of African Fish Eagles echoing across lakes are often deemed the ‘Voice of Africa.” However, I find that Ring-necked Doves (below) are a far better candidate for this distinction. The call of this widespread species found throughout the dry savanna is a common background sound when on safari. Indeed, just about every television program about East African wildlife features the constant “work haar-der, work haar-der” calls of this dove as a background soundtrack.

Is the Ring-necked Dove really encouraging us to be more productive?! Of course we’ll never know, but we’ve developed such phrases as “work harder, work harder” to help us remember the bird’s call. This process of developing phrases to interpret sounds is called mnemonics, and can be useful in remembering and identifying species.

Doves and cuckoos seem to top the mnemonic list in this part of the world, with the Emerald Spotted Wood-Dove (above) saying the rather long, drawn-out, mournful phrase, “my mother, my father, my brother, my sister are all dead, what am I going to do, do, do, do…..” And the Red-eyed Dove proudly exclaims over and over, “I am a Red-eyed Dove, I am a Red-eyed Dove.” Yes, we heard you the first time!

While mnemonics may be helpful in learning calls, context is just as important. Inflections, accents and syllables are important in understanding the correct bird sound, and these things are difficult to convey in writing. Often there are several different mnemonic phrases that apply to the same bird call, underscoring the fact that we each hear something different, even when listening to the same bird! Location, habitat and season also play a role in assigning the right bird to the right call. But that’s subject for another story.

Hearing the four-noted “Hel-lo Ju-dy!”, whistled from the high canopy, draws attention to the African Emerald Cuckoo. This may be the only clue to this stunning but elusive species. It pays to learn the phrases, particularly for forest birds, which are more easily heard than seen. Maybe “you can’t find me” would be more appropriate for this cuckoo!

One of my favorites is the Red-chested Cuckoo (above), ever optimistic in his emphatic, three-note call “it will rain,” proclaimed loudly to anyone within earshot, day and night. Eventually I’m sure his prediction will come true!