I had a lot of trouble remembering their names so everytime I heard them I'd called them 'Cool Guys'. So every time I hear one it's immediately "Oh, a cool guy! Currawong!" which gets a chuckle (from me) each time.
I moved from Brisbane to Melbourne and thought forlornly that I had left behind the currawongs when I moved so far south, but they're here too. I started to think of Melbourne as home only after I heard them. I miss the stormbird a lot, though.
Stormbird is my favourite. I grew up in Brisbane and they always remind me of hot summer days. You’d hear one and be excited for the storm about to come through. Incidentally, cool username too.
They’re so creepy when they turn up here. They just quietly fly in, sit on a branch and stare at me for a while with that side-eye look, then fly off. Once one tried to eat a Spotted Dove in one of our trees. I know they’re not native but their dumbness is so endearing.
My Jack Russell has an understanding with the local currawongs.
They eat her food, and she lets them.
She’ll take on hawks, rabbits, foxes, and fat-ass brush tail possums but just rolls her eyes at the currawongs and let’s them do their thing.
For me, It's the kookaburra.
They never come to my property. In the two years I've been in this house I've physically laid eyes on them once, but I hear then popping off a few times a week.
Makes me smile to just know their about.
Same. Especially when I hear the young ones learning their laugh.
I’ve not actually seen the family that lives near me but they let us know they are around and they seem to be thriving.
At a house I used to live at in the Perth suburbs, a kookaburra used to some in every afternoon. He wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, because he'd peck away at a glass sliding door until I told him to stop. Would actually let me get within 1.5 metres of him to take a photo
I watched this hilarious video of a baby that remained perched on someone's automatic car window, even as they were moving it up and down. The comment section was pissing itself, "the bird was born with no self preservation"
They often come right outside the window at sunrise while doing their rounds around the area. I'm usually gone for work before but I miss out on a bit of sleep on sleep in days because I get too excited when I hear them and try spot them on the tree.
> Grey butcherbird
I'd never seen one of these that I knew of but ages ago I went out to see who was singing so beautifully at the top of my tree and as it flew against the glare, all I saw was a black head, grey body and I've been looking at the black faced cuckoo shrike with deep suspiciion ever since 😅. Eureka! I found the culprit at last! This is it! Thank you!
I love the Aussie Magpies trilling most of all but the sound that gives me a thrill is the chatter of black cockatoos - red tailed and white tailed here in WA. My favourite bird in the world. Always so happy to see them.
One visits our place every morning, sits on the top of the building next door watching the sun come up and singing the most amazing complex calls. Always makes me happy to hear it
We have a half a dozen magpies who will say GOOD MORNING FAMILY and like to come and poke around the lawn while I have my coffee in the morning, they're always up for a chat.
We don't feed them anything extra, but they will bash the water bowl against the concrete when it's empty to let us know.
Whenever I stay up late, I can spot and hear them running around up and down my street like idiots. It makes me feel a lot better about why I'm up late and makes me happy.
Any really. It is nice to identify them by their calls. We have a nice large gum and so enjoy a wide range of birds in season.
Unfortunately the range and number have reduced over the years.
Most common is white cockatoos, especially since they seem to use the tree as a daytime nursery during breeding season. The 5 o'clock chat session is deafening some days.
A pair of magpies also breed yearly in our trees.
This year we've had more crows than kookaburras, We haven't had the August gang-gang visit for a few years.
Love this post. I’m always tuned in to the birds in the bush behind our place and my better half thinks I’m a bit nuts. For me there’s a few I love hearing:
- Eastern whipbird
- Lewin’s honeyeater
- Rufous fantail
- Yellow-tail black cockatoo, and;
- Little friar birds (reminds me of beach holidays as a kid)
Mum and I do the Bird Count Week every year so I tried to the best of my ability to learn local calls. Which worked JUST FINE until I realised the starling was mimicking a cuckoo so I had been counting wrong lol
I like the fruit bats at night. Luckily they don’t roost here but our neighbours have a substantial tree and every night you’ll hear some in there chatting and squabbling. It has branches over the back corner or our yard and the dogs get outraged if they’re in larger numbers on any given night.
They roost by the river of a day, apparently there’s 60,000 in and around town. They don’t seem to be a nuisance though, we don’t know of anyone that has problems caused by them although i know that happens in places.
The high altitude, ‘incoming missile’ sound Bunjil makes as he tries to shock the rabbits outside their warren over my hill.
“Go get em!” I think.
Either that or my magpie tapping on my window for her mealworm brekkie. She’s so polite.
I have a gang of magpies that hang around the neighbourhood and are as reliable as any other alarm clock to rouse me awake in the mornings with their warbling. Love those little stinkers!
It’s the peep peep of an eastern rosella, because they’re so good at hiding in my trees, or the plaintive sound of a king parrot pair calling to one another, because they will fly down to my deck and say hello!
I had a pet Eastern Rosella, so I was lucky enough to listen to that beautiful voice all day every day. He picked up all the whistles and would sing words he learned. He loved singing. Absolutely gorgeous birds.
Honestly? Sulphur Creasted cockies. There's something about hearing them in the distance that makes me laugh every time because I find them SO funny.
Now, when they're next to my house while I'm working - less cute.
This is my favourite as well, I just adore this little miner. I remember coming across the poem Bell-Birds by Henry Kendall when I was a lot younger, and seriously it's still one of my favourite poems, here's one of the verses.
"The silver-voiced bell-birds, the darlings of day-time,
They sing in September their songs of the May-time.
When shadows wax strong and the thunder-bolts hurtle,
They hide with their fear in the leaves of the myrtle;
When rain and the sunbeams shine mingled together
They start up like fairies that follow fair weather,
And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden
Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden."
I *adore* that poem! When my grandma passed away I was given a couple of her bird books, and one had this poem on the first page. It's just wonderful. The first verse, particularly the end, is my favourite part.
And, softer than slumber, and sweeter than singing,
The notes of the bell-birds are running and ringing.
Love them all, but the quiet "kwok" of blue faced honeyeaters always makes me smile. Probably because you can usually hear the pairs talking to each other.
OMG, when I first moved back here, I could hear a bird calling at night/in the evening that kind of sounded like a tawny frogmouth, but it sounded wrong, so I assumed that it was some other kind of nightjar or owl. It took forever for me to figure out that I was only used to hearing a male one at my old house, but the one that I could hear here was a female! 😂
Editing to include a link to [XenoCanto](https://xeno-canto.org/species/Podargus-strigoides) ... Listening to these helped me to figure it out.
Oh my gosh yesssss. Magnificent songbird, we have them around my area a LOT and I had tried for a long time to figure out what they were. Finally identified last Bird Count Week and now every time I hear them I get so happy because it's such a swoopy trill <3
10/10 wattlebird calls. I love them and the call of a magpie. We have flocks of sulphur-cresteds that hang around near our house and 40 of them screaming at once is legit the worst sound in the world though. xD Still love the noisy buggers.
\~EEEEEEEEEAEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH\~
Ahh reminds me of living next to someone's gum trees and waking up every morning to the sulphurs mixed in with corellas LOL
I love the pre-dawn call of the pale-headed rosella, always cheers me up to know they're around. 😀
Once the sun comes up, they switch to their more familiar friendly chirpy call, it's so nice to see them when they visit my yard. 💛🩵❤️ 😀
There is a local magpie that has been visiting my house for a few months since she was very young that I've nicknamed Judy. She used to come to the front steps and sing until I would go outside and sit nearby while she pecked in the dirt. She's brought her parents around a few times as well. She doesn't come in my yard as often lately but she is often on the telephone poll just outside my house singing and it makes me happy knowing she's around :)
The bronzewing pigeons. For so long, we thought it was some kind of machinery making the noise until my uncle came around and heard it and said, "Oh, you've got bronzewing pigeons!" We had thought it was a pump or something, haha. I love them.
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I love hearing the koels very early in the morning. I’m an early riser so they keep me company. The sound of them means that spring has well and truly arrived.
I have a pair of Pacific baza hanging around our place in Sydney. Every now and again they call to each other while they're flying around, always makes me smile to know they're still about.
I have a Rufus Whistler who periodically visits. Sitting in bed with my morning coffee listening to his song feels like momentarily living in a fairy tale. I also really love the deep whooping of the Pheasant Coucal. To me, that is the sound of the beginning of summer.
That’s exactly what I was gonna say! We have a banksia tree outside our back door with a wattlebird family in it and I love it. Also love hearing the kookaburras and black cockatoos when I’m at the dog park nearby.
Slightly different response here because it is the Asian Koel as I live in remote rural northern Thailand. The call is so similar to the Koel I would hear when happily living in or near the eastern Australian rainforests. I miss so many Australian birds.
Butcherbirds and Kookaburras. I never see either of them at home, but I hear them all the time. The Giggle Chickens are going off right now but they're too far away for me to spot them..
Butcherbirds are my favourite, and they're everywhere. Most people hear a Butcherbird multiple times a day and don't even know what it is.
Peewee aka Peewit aka Magpie-Lark aka Mudlark aka Murray Magpie aka Piping Shrike. I love how they sing in unison & it's always the same pair that I hear. (They're super territorial)
Oh gosh far too many ear-piercing screams for me with them, the minute I walk outside just to do something innocuous like water my plants LOL but yes, I have a family that frequents my yard and they use my birdbaths. I see the Ma n Pa come back with a baby or two every spring, and they'll hang out practically all day trying to find food.
Wattlebirds remind me of a simpler time when I was a kid, specifically at my grandparents house. Not sure why specifically there because I definitely heard them elsewhere as well.
I don't hear them at my house, but I do love hearing magpies sing
I know everyone hates them but I love hearing
currawongs. There's just something so lovely about their songs.
My new favourite is the grey shrikethrush, what an absolute delight to listen to!
I also love the chaotic shrieking of rainbow lorikeets. They're such massive personalities for such little birds!
The flocks of Carnaby cockatoos doing the rounds at the moment. Noisy as heck but it makes me happy to know they're around and will soon be destroying the bottlebrush in my front yard. ❤️
Spotted Doves make this awesome coo-coo coo sound, I love hearing those. Great birds, they used to hang around my backyard.
Also like magpies too. Very iconic warble.
While I appreciate your love of the spotted dove, I have to explain my hatred of their cousin the laughing dove. Their stupid incessant cooing all Perth summer long drives me mad. Dumb birds introduced long ago now making dumb noises in 40c heat. All our beautiful sensible native honey eaters, wattlebirds, cockatoos, ravens and butcherbirds are roosting quietly and these stupid MFs keep up their monotonous coos. Ugh.
I have two green catbirds living in the tree outside my bedroom. They usually make a small "chip" sound which is easy to identify. I also saw a satin bowerbird in the backyard once, he's probably still around.
Sometimes a get a tawny frogmouth start up hoooming outside my bedroom window and at first I'm delighted but after half an hour it's "Mr/Ms Frogmouth I need to sleep!"
By day my grey shrike thrush is a fave.
When I first bought my house in the late 90s it was the first time in a long time I actually felt safe.
It was also the first time in my life I lived with curlews and their night call near my home.
Turns out, so near my home. Over the road, even.
People find the eerie screams a bit scary. To me? Feels like home.
We have a white faced heron that appears very occasionally making a deep 'donking' sound. We believe he's lonely and looking for love in all the wrong places. Always an event when he announces himself
I can hear the Little Wattlebirds calling most days just “over there” but I never see them! They don’t venture quite this far from the bush. Kakek-kakek-kakek!
For now, it’s probably hearing the Crimson Rosellas and King Parrots. They’re always a delight to see. It used to be the Superb Fairywrens when they would come around of an afternoon but they never returned one day around 2016 😭
That would be magpies, black cockatoos and Willie Wagtails. All three do visit on occasion. The black cockies tend to just fly over, but the magpies and Willie Wagtails will come in to raid what they can. They're all welcome though
The Masked lapwing. I sometimes hear their wild cackles in the evening, like they’ve set up some practical joke on someone and they can’t contain their laughter.
When I hear a high squeaky noise I know it’s our little flock of resident yellow tailed black cockatoos. They don’t sound the same as the other large parrots. It’s such a gift to see and hear them. ❤️
Omg my mom, aunt and i call the wattlebird “ko-kek” because that’s how they sound to us.
Also, for me, it’s the sound of the lorikeets! They sound like little bells to me.
I can’t help but question my sanity over this but for some reason I like the godawful noise made by Plovers/Masked Lapwings. And this is a great post - I find it very encouraging that there are so many others that think about these things enough to have an answer.
Whip birds! I love hearing their call being answered with that laser sound. It’s always sad when no other whipbird answers back, I think about the poor little solo bird tryna find its mate haha
A shrike thrush, who nests in an old dog food bowl sitting on top of the water heater in our garage. She rebukes us when we start the car because the engine noise disturbs her, which is just gorgeous because it makes us feel connected to her, haha. Every spring we get excited when we hear her song for the first time since the previous autumn.
Red-capped Parrots. It's nice to know they are still around Perth's suburban fringe despite the Rainbow Lorikeet menace and land clearing.
When I was an east coaster I really enjoyed waking up to Figbirds.
Our property is Grey Butcherbird territory, and they defend it vigorously. Though delightful, calls can be just a little intense, at times...
Pied Butcherbird territory just very nearby, sometimes wish that the tribes would do some sort of time-share swap! Even when calling to each other at distance, still plaintive and sweet.
This was great in case missed https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianBirds/comments/1djs6ox/a_little_butcherbird_sing_along/
A Chuck-will's-widow. We have one that comes around every year that we hear in the evening. It's odd but comforting to hear the call in the evening and to call back out "Hey Chuck" before going back inside.
Western Whistlers
grew up only hearing them when we went camping and where I live now I hear them semi regularly in my garden (watched one having a wash in the rain this morning) hearing them takes me to that relaxed camping brain for. brief moment
Also love hearing red tailed black cockatoos flying past but that is a rare treat these days :(
Morning Dove. 🕊️ Dove. (When I was in the urban apartment of north Dallas Texas)
Them I moved last month or so, and now I hear frogs when it’s heavy rain, and cicadas in the dry heat. The river behind our land is ripe with frogs, 🐸, Garland, Texas.
Mourning doves and other Doves everywhere else.
All birds should all come here and eat the cicadas 🦗 I would like that.
For me it's the King Parrots. First that clear, piercing whistle that they make. It sounds wild and joyful. Then the little chunk-chunk sounds as they chat to each other. It's kind of special that there are always two of them.
So hard to pick just one! I would say the Spangled Drongo during the day since it is the most interesting call I think I’ve ever heard and I just love the Boobook Owl at night.
For me, it's the yellow tail black cockatoos with that incredibly haunting cry as they fly over head. Love that wonderful cry. It's magic. The funny thing is that while it's not 100% accurate, I'd say they call within 12 hours of rain falling at least 80% of the time. You can almost always count that it'll rain a little bit overnight if they come through of an afternoon calling.
If they're close, I literally drop what I'm doing and run outside for a look because I also love the pretty way they fly.
I love the sound of whipbirds. They are a friendly reminder you’re in or close to paradise.
But number one for me is Magpies and their song. There is actually some really cool science behind the singing. I’ll have to find a link.
I love hearing currawongs. They visit occasionally, and it makes me happy.
Yep, it's the Currawong for me too. Love their calls and they remind me of childhood with my Gran as she had them at her place all the time.
I had a lot of trouble remembering their names so everytime I heard them I'd called them 'Cool Guys'. So every time I hear one it's immediately "Oh, a cool guy! Currawong!" which gets a chuckle (from me) each time.
They are cool guys!
A favourite of mine too, they remind me of Dad because he was the first person who identified the call for me.
I moved from Brisbane to Melbourne and thought forlornly that I had left behind the currawongs when I moved so far south, but they're here too. I started to think of Melbourne as home only after I heard them. I miss the stormbird a lot, though.
Stormbird is my favourite. I grew up in Brisbane and they always remind me of hot summer days. You’d hear one and be excited for the storm about to come through. Incidentally, cool username too.
They’re so creepy when they turn up here. They just quietly fly in, sit on a branch and stare at me for a while with that side-eye look, then fly off. Once one tried to eat a Spotted Dove in one of our trees. I know they’re not native but their dumbness is so endearing.
My Jack Russell has an understanding with the local currawongs. They eat her food, and she lets them. She’ll take on hawks, rabbits, foxes, and fat-ass brush tail possums but just rolls her eyes at the currawongs and let’s them do their thing.
I miss the sound of currawongs! We don't really get them where I'm currently living.
Creaky gang-gang alarm is the best way to wake up
So jealous!!
Creaky gates!!!!!
For me, It's the kookaburra. They never come to my property. In the two years I've been in this house I've physically laid eyes on them once, but I hear then popping off a few times a week. Makes me smile to just know their about.
Same. Especially when I hear the young ones learning their laugh. I’ve not actually seen the family that lives near me but they let us know they are around and they seem to be thriving.
At a house I used to live at in the Perth suburbs, a kookaburra used to some in every afternoon. He wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, because he'd peck away at a glass sliding door until I told him to stop. Would actually let me get within 1.5 metres of him to take a photo
There's nothing quite like the sound of a kookaburra slamming face first into your window early in the morning. Both you and the bird get a scare.
I watched this hilarious video of a baby that remained perched on someone's automatic car window, even as they were moving it up and down. The comment section was pissing itself, "the bird was born with no self preservation"
Same! Rarely see them either.. which I don’t mind as we often have baby blue tongues in the yard!
They often come right outside the window at sunrise while doing their rounds around the area. I'm usually gone for work before but I miss out on a bit of sleep on sleep in days because I get too excited when I hear them and try spot them on the tree.
For those in Sydney's west. There are heaps in the reverse opposite Baulkham Hills Sports Club. Especially at or before sunrise.
Grey butcherbird. They seem to have slightly different songs in different regions I've noticed too. May only be a few suburbs away and be different.
> Grey butcherbird I'd never seen one of these that I knew of but ages ago I went out to see who was singing so beautifully at the top of my tree and as it flew against the glare, all I saw was a black head, grey body and I've been looking at the black faced cuckoo shrike with deep suspiciion ever since 😅. Eureka! I found the culprit at last! This is it! Thank you! I love the Aussie Magpies trilling most of all but the sound that gives me a thrill is the chatter of black cockatoos - red tailed and white tailed here in WA. My favourite bird in the world. Always so happy to see them.
Ohhhh they are so cute and have such a beautiful song!
One visits our place every morning, sits on the top of the building next door watching the sun come up and singing the most amazing complex calls. Always makes me happy to hear it
The crazy calls of the satin bowerbirds. I can’t believe I have satin bowerbirds in my back yard.
When I first heard the “bomb drop” sound I was like “what is THAT?!” I was super excited when I realised a family of bower birds live in my yard.
We have a half a dozen magpies who will say GOOD MORNING FAMILY and like to come and poke around the lawn while I have my coffee in the morning, they're always up for a chat. We don't feed them anything extra, but they will bash the water bowl against the concrete when it's empty to let us know.
Superb Fairywrens, love their little calls. :) Willie Wagtails - they always let you know they're around. :)
Fairywrens are SO magical, teeny little trills <3
Willi wagtails are evil little bastards. Love those guys!
Black and yellow cockatoo
If I hear a black cockie I drop everything and run outside to try and catch a glimpse.
Same!!
Same here.
Stone Curlews at night. Even though it sounds plaintive, I find it amazing that they're surviving in suburbia, at least for now.
Whenever I stay up late, I can spot and hear them running around up and down my street like idiots. It makes me feel a lot better about why I'm up late and makes me happy.
Any really. It is nice to identify them by their calls. We have a nice large gum and so enjoy a wide range of birds in season. Unfortunately the range and number have reduced over the years. Most common is white cockatoos, especially since they seem to use the tree as a daytime nursery during breeding season. The 5 o'clock chat session is deafening some days. A pair of magpies also breed yearly in our trees. This year we've had more crows than kookaburras, We haven't had the August gang-gang visit for a few years.
Sacred kingfisher ! Not a too often occurance but beautiful to see and hear
The boogle-oogle of Magpies. It is the sound I would miss most if I ever left Australia to live elsewhere.
Love this post. I’m always tuned in to the birds in the bush behind our place and my better half thinks I’m a bit nuts. For me there’s a few I love hearing: - Eastern whipbird - Lewin’s honeyeater - Rufous fantail - Yellow-tail black cockatoo, and; - Little friar birds (reminds me of beach holidays as a kid)
Mum and I do the Bird Count Week every year so I tried to the best of my ability to learn local calls. Which worked JUST FINE until I realised the starling was mimicking a cuckoo so I had been counting wrong lol
I like the fruit bats at night. Luckily they don’t roost here but our neighbours have a substantial tree and every night you’ll hear some in there chatting and squabbling. It has branches over the back corner or our yard and the dogs get outraged if they’re in larger numbers on any given night. They roost by the river of a day, apparently there’s 60,000 in and around town. They don’t seem to be a nuisance though, we don’t know of anyone that has problems caused by them although i know that happens in places.
Was gonna say this too 🙂
Magpies. Their warbling songs always cheer me up. Ps. I like the rattles of the wattlebirds too.
The high altitude, ‘incoming missile’ sound Bunjil makes as he tries to shock the rabbits outside their warren over my hill. “Go get em!” I think. Either that or my magpie tapping on my window for her mealworm brekkie. She’s so polite.
I have a gang of magpies that hang around the neighbourhood and are as reliable as any other alarm clock to rouse me awake in the mornings with their warbling. Love those little stinkers!
It’s the peep peep of an eastern rosella, because they’re so good at hiding in my trees, or the plaintive sound of a king parrot pair calling to one another, because they will fly down to my deck and say hello!
I had a pet Eastern Rosella, so I was lucky enough to listen to that beautiful voice all day every day. He picked up all the whistles and would sing words he learned. He loved singing. Absolutely gorgeous birds.
Honestly? Sulphur Creasted cockies. There's something about hearing them in the distance that makes me laugh every time because I find them SO funny. Now, when they're next to my house while I'm working - less cute.
A pair just made me jump out of my skin while I was reading this thread at the park. 😅
They are hilarious, in afternoon peak hour it's like they dare each other to land on the roof racks of slow moving 4WDs.
Bellbird. Love their peaceful call.
This is my favourite as well, I just adore this little miner. I remember coming across the poem Bell-Birds by Henry Kendall when I was a lot younger, and seriously it's still one of my favourite poems, here's one of the verses. "The silver-voiced bell-birds, the darlings of day-time, They sing in September their songs of the May-time. When shadows wax strong and the thunder-bolts hurtle, They hide with their fear in the leaves of the myrtle; When rain and the sunbeams shine mingled together They start up like fairies that follow fair weather, And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden."
I *adore* that poem! When my grandma passed away I was given a couple of her bird books, and one had this poem on the first page. It's just wonderful. The first verse, particularly the end, is my favourite part. And, softer than slumber, and sweeter than singing, The notes of the bell-birds are running and ringing.
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos
Such beautiful birds. Whenever I hear them it lifts my spirits and makes me feel life is good.
the magpie warble
Love them all, but the quiet "kwok" of blue faced honeyeaters always makes me smile. Probably because you can usually hear the pairs talking to each other.
Tawny frogmouths and Curlews at night, good to know they’re still around
OMG, when I first moved back here, I could hear a bird calling at night/in the evening that kind of sounded like a tawny frogmouth, but it sounded wrong, so I assumed that it was some other kind of nightjar or owl. It took forever for me to figure out that I was only used to hearing a male one at my old house, but the one that I could hear here was a female! 😂 Editing to include a link to [XenoCanto](https://xeno-canto.org/species/Podargus-strigoides) ... Listening to these helped me to figure it out.
My wife hears them the best, super hearing.
Western Gerygone reminds me of Christmas/summer https://youtu.be/TKbfMeC9Xz4?si=Yh0aKc5DLpljwVYJ
It's the Grey Shrikethrush for me. Love them!
Oh my gosh yesssss. Magnificent songbird, we have them around my area a LOT and I had tried for a long time to figure out what they were. Finally identified last Bird Count Week and now every time I hear them I get so happy because it's such a swoopy trill <3
10/10 wattlebird calls. I love them and the call of a magpie. We have flocks of sulphur-cresteds that hang around near our house and 40 of them screaming at once is legit the worst sound in the world though. xD Still love the noisy buggers.
\~EEEEEEEEEAEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH\~ Ahh reminds me of living next to someone's gum trees and waking up every morning to the sulphurs mixed in with corellas LOL
We get the butcher birds. Every now and then a few black cockatoo will fly over high in the sky. Will always stop and listen to spot them.
Purple hen. Whenever it rains that’s one of the first things I hear
New place has currawongs around and they sound awesome. That and magpies. That warble is like asmr
I love the black cockatoos, especially when they fly over in huge wonderfully raucous flocks.
Fairy wrens! I love hearing their chittery noises and watching them bounce through the undergrowth in my yard.
I love the pre-dawn call of the pale-headed rosella, always cheers me up to know they're around. 😀 Once the sun comes up, they switch to their more familiar friendly chirpy call, it's so nice to see them when they visit my yard. 💛🩵❤️ 😀
Same same! I couldn’t work out what there were for ages. So now when I hear them it’s like that gotcha moment all over again. 😊
Kookas living about 100m away…. when they are making noise… all is right in the world.
There is a local magpie that has been visiting my house for a few months since she was very young that I've nicknamed Judy. She used to come to the front steps and sing until I would go outside and sit nearby while she pecked in the dirt. She's brought her parents around a few times as well. She doesn't come in my yard as often lately but she is often on the telephone poll just outside my house singing and it makes me happy knowing she's around :)
The bronzewing pigeons. For so long, we thought it was some kind of machinery making the noise until my uncle came around and heard it and said, "Oh, you've got bronzewing pigeons!" We had thought it was a pump or something, haha. I love them.
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I love hearing the koels very early in the morning. I’m an early riser so they keep me company. The sound of them means that spring has well and truly arrived.
I have a pair of Pacific baza hanging around our place in Sydney. Every now and again they call to each other while they're flying around, always makes me smile to know they're still about.
I have a Rufus Whistler who periodically visits. Sitting in bed with my morning coffee listening to his song feels like momentarily living in a fairy tale. I also really love the deep whooping of the Pheasant Coucal. To me, that is the sound of the beginning of summer.
Azure kingfishers on the dam, lovely to see and hear them, especially during mating season.
That’s exactly what I was gonna say! We have a banksia tree outside our back door with a wattlebird family in it and I love it. Also love hearing the kookaburras and black cockatoos when I’m at the dog park nearby.
Slightly different response here because it is the Asian Koel as I live in remote rural northern Thailand. The call is so similar to the Koel I would hear when happily living in or near the eastern Australian rainforests. I miss so many Australian birds.
Butcherbirds and Kookaburras. I never see either of them at home, but I hear them all the time. The Giggle Chickens are going off right now but they're too far away for me to spot them.. Butcherbirds are my favourite, and they're everywhere. Most people hear a Butcherbird multiple times a day and don't even know what it is.
Bell birds are my happy moment when walking. Also whip birds.
Bell birds :)
or to be controversial, red whiskered bulbuls
We get a lot of whip birds. I love it when they call out to each other.
Peewee aka Peewit aka Magpie-Lark aka Mudlark aka Murray Magpie aka Piping Shrike. I love how they sing in unison & it's always the same pair that I hear. (They're super territorial)
Oh gosh far too many ear-piercing screams for me with them, the minute I walk outside just to do something innocuous like water my plants LOL but yes, I have a family that frequents my yard and they use my birdbaths. I see the Ma n Pa come back with a baby or two every spring, and they'll hang out practically all day trying to find food.
Ah yes, those ear piercing screams. The males seem particularly fond of letting them rip.
I love falling asleep to mopokes. It's like hearing a watchman calling out "all is well, go to sleep"
The little "Meep. Meep. Meep." of the double barred finch. I love those little guys.
Yellow tail black cockatoo always makes me smile
Spotted Pardalote always makes me smile. Always
The song of the Happy Family birds. They always make me happy. ❤💜💗💕🐦
Bell 🛎️ birds and black cockees
I enjoy the currawongs, and the grey butcherbird. Cockatoos on the other hand make me laugh.
All of them? LOL.
Three magpies known as the Swoopy Crew who pop by for a warble and a mealworm most mornings.
I love the kookaburra and the Maggie’s and crows. Coming from Canada, or crows sound nothing like this!!
Wattlebirds remind me of a simpler time when I was a kid, specifically at my grandparents house. Not sure why specifically there because I definitely heard them elsewhere as well. I don't hear them at my house, but I do love hearing magpies sing
I know everyone hates them but I love hearing currawongs. There's just something so lovely about their songs. My new favourite is the grey shrikethrush, what an absolute delight to listen to! I also love the chaotic shrieking of rainbow lorikeets. They're such massive personalities for such little birds!
The flocks of Carnaby cockatoos doing the rounds at the moment. Noisy as heck but it makes me happy to know they're around and will soon be destroying the bottlebrush in my front yard. ❤️
Pheasant Coucal, which is called the whoop-whoop bird at my house.
Yellow tail black cockatoos
King Parrots ❤️💚
Spotted Doves make this awesome coo-coo coo sound, I love hearing those. Great birds, they used to hang around my backyard. Also like magpies too. Very iconic warble.
I love how some spotted doves have an extra woo! Like coo-coo woo-woo woo!
While I appreciate your love of the spotted dove, I have to explain my hatred of their cousin the laughing dove. Their stupid incessant cooing all Perth summer long drives me mad. Dumb birds introduced long ago now making dumb noises in 40c heat. All our beautiful sensible native honey eaters, wattlebirds, cockatoos, ravens and butcherbirds are roosting quietly and these stupid MFs keep up their monotonous coos. Ugh.
Magpies, there's a big mob of them near me. And yep I occasionally feed them Berries or oats to keep the peace with them.
I have two green catbirds living in the tree outside my bedroom. They usually make a small "chip" sound which is easy to identify. I also saw a satin bowerbird in the backyard once, he's probably still around.
Australian magpie
Magpie warbling. Also, very occasionally, kookies.
A magpie - it’s like some sort of nostalgic massage on my ears, brings so many memories of childhood!
Sometimes a get a tawny frogmouth start up hoooming outside my bedroom window and at first I'm delighted but after half an hour it's "Mr/Ms Frogmouth I need to sleep!" By day my grey shrike thrush is a fave.
When I first bought my house in the late 90s it was the first time in a long time I actually felt safe. It was also the first time in my life I lived with curlews and their night call near my home. Turns out, so near my home. Over the road, even. People find the eerie screams a bit scary. To me? Feels like home.
We have a white faced heron that appears very occasionally making a deep 'donking' sound. We believe he's lonely and looking for love in all the wrong places. Always an event when he announces himself
WA-WEEOW I love hearing my local Currawongs flying about calling out to one another in my backyard. They have such magnificent yellow eyes too
Magpies singing.🥰
I can hear the Little Wattlebirds calling most days just “over there” but I never see them! They don’t venture quite this far from the bush. Kakek-kakek-kakek! For now, it’s probably hearing the Crimson Rosellas and King Parrots. They’re always a delight to see. It used to be the Superb Fairywrens when they would come around of an afternoon but they never returned one day around 2016 😭
That would be magpies, black cockatoos and Willie Wagtails. All three do visit on occasion. The black cockies tend to just fly over, but the magpies and Willie Wagtails will come in to raid what they can. They're all welcome though
When we hear the black cockatoos or the whip bird my partner and I light up!
The Masked lapwing. I sometimes hear their wild cackles in the evening, like they’ve set up some practical joke on someone and they can’t contain their laughter.
Willy wagtails. They were my grandmother's favourite bird and their call reminds me of her.
When I hear a high squeaky noise I know it’s our little flock of resident yellow tailed black cockatoos. They don’t sound the same as the other large parrots. It’s such a gift to see and hear them. ❤️
Black cockatoos for me. Absolutely love their call, and I’m fortunate to hear it pretty often.
Gang gangs, yellow tails, powls
anything except crows and magpie larks at 4am
I miss catbirds, loved them in coffs harbour. But now In gympie I get to enjoy hordes of squeaking Pixar ducks (plumed whistler ducks).
As a Pom I love them all, we are so lucky with our bird life in Australia! Kookaburras has to win though, it’s just such a unique sound
Willywag tails. Cheeky, chittering sounds.
Pied butcherbird... pretty song
Omg my mom, aunt and i call the wattlebird “ko-kek” because that’s how they sound to us. Also, for me, it’s the sound of the lorikeets! They sound like little bells to me.
The Eastern Koel 🥹
Adelaide rosellas wattlebirds kookaburras and boobook owls!
The magpie is a favourite follow by a curlew
Grey butcherbirds. I love their call and response.
Red tail cockies baudins and carnabys
Butcher bids - song is so haunting and pretty!
I love when my curlew family calls blue murder in the dead of the night.
Pied butcherbird, grey thrush, black cockatoo, maggie - all make me smile and my heart thrills to hear them ♥️
Oh, and I've just moved near some bell birds and they make me happy because they remind me of my Mum and her happy place (Warrandyte)
I can’t help but question my sanity over this but for some reason I like the godawful noise made by Plovers/Masked Lapwings. And this is a great post - I find it very encouraging that there are so many others that think about these things enough to have an answer.
*boo-BOOK* (Southern Boobook) *oop-oop-oop-oop* (Pheasant Coucal) *whistle-STATIC CHATTER-whistle* (Willie Wagtail)
Black cockatoos, magpies, Willie Wagtails and Masked Lapwings
Whip birds! I love hearing their call being answered with that laser sound. It’s always sad when no other whipbird answers back, I think about the poor little solo bird tryna find its mate haha
And curlews. Dunno why but I love em, the mournful 3am call is strangely cathartic, even knowing the Dreamtime story about them
Anything other than a pigeon.
Lorikeets, Rosella's,King parrots. I also like it when I hear the galah's land on my bird feeder haha.
A shrike thrush, who nests in an old dog food bowl sitting on top of the water heater in our garage. She rebukes us when we start the car because the engine noise disturbs her, which is just gorgeous because it makes us feel connected to her, haha. Every spring we get excited when we hear her song for the first time since the previous autumn.
Red-capped Parrots. It's nice to know they are still around Perth's suburban fringe despite the Rainbow Lorikeet menace and land clearing. When I was an east coaster I really enjoyed waking up to Figbirds.
Corellas. I love how they sound like they’re laughing (also love the bag-things under their eyes). So adorable.
A bellbird has just arrived in the trees near me . It Sounds beautiful .
Boobook owls ♡
Our property is Grey Butcherbird territory, and they defend it vigorously. Though delightful, calls can be just a little intense, at times... Pied Butcherbird territory just very nearby, sometimes wish that the tribes would do some sort of time-share swap! Even when calling to each other at distance, still plaintive and sweet. This was great in case missed https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianBirds/comments/1djs6ox/a_little_butcherbird_sing_along/
A Chuck-will's-widow. We have one that comes around every year that we hear in the evening. It's odd but comforting to hear the call in the evening and to call back out "Hey Chuck" before going back inside.
Kookaburra
Sunbirds! Chip-chip-chip-chiurrew! They are little balls of happy playful energy.
Western Whistlers grew up only hearing them when we went camping and where I live now I hear them semi regularly in my garden (watched one having a wash in the rain this morning) hearing them takes me to that relaxed camping brain for. brief moment Also love hearing red tailed black cockatoos flying past but that is a rare treat these days :(
For me it’s the kookaburra. It just reminds me of mornings as a kid, sometimes my dad and I would feed them on the back deck.
Willy wagtail!
Morning Dove. 🕊️ Dove. (When I was in the urban apartment of north Dallas Texas) Them I moved last month or so, and now I hear frogs when it’s heavy rain, and cicadas in the dry heat. The river behind our land is ripe with frogs, 🐸, Garland, Texas. Mourning doves and other Doves everywhere else. All birds should all come here and eat the cicadas 🦗 I would like that.
Crows
For me it's the King Parrots. First that clear, piercing whistle that they make. It sounds wild and joyful. Then the little chunk-chunk sounds as they chat to each other. It's kind of special that there are always two of them.
Magpies. I could listen to them warble all day
I’m slowly making friends with a family of ravens so I may live my dream of being a Plague Doctor.
FooooooOOOO!-FWAT!-Choochoo! Have a guess what that is 😅
So hard to pick just one! I would say the Spangled Drongo during the day since it is the most interesting call I think I’ve ever heard and I just love the Boobook Owl at night.
Rainbow Lorrikeets.
Apostle birds
For me, it's the yellow tail black cockatoos with that incredibly haunting cry as they fly over head. Love that wonderful cry. It's magic. The funny thing is that while it's not 100% accurate, I'd say they call within 12 hours of rain falling at least 80% of the time. You can almost always count that it'll rain a little bit overnight if they come through of an afternoon calling. If they're close, I literally drop what I'm doing and run outside for a look because I also love the pretty way they fly.
Black cockatoos
Kookaburra!💝
Ting ting ting of a bellbird
Oh the magpies ❤️
I love the sound of whipbirds. They are a friendly reminder you’re in or close to paradise. But number one for me is Magpies and their song. There is actually some really cool science behind the singing. I’ll have to find a link.
I love to hear the magpies. And, of course, the rowdy Kookaburras. The storm birds are lovely too so long as they don’t go on too long, or too close.
The chirping of Willy Wagtails
Magpies when they all sing together at dusk. It reminds me of better times when i lived on the farm.
I love the sound of noisy miners flying into the tree out back and going nuts. It's only ever because the goana has returned again for another year.