While working in the garden today, I heard a lot of noise coming from a tree in the neighbour’s garden. It sounded like a bunch of birds of different species fighting. I walked over to the fence, and noticed… a solitary European starling sitting high up on a branch. All the noise (I could distinctly make out a magpie and a blackbird, and possibly the scratching call of a great tit) came from that single bird. It was quietly sitting on its branch and every once in a while burst out in this mixed up song, which seemed to include mobile ringtones as well, before cocking its head and presumably listening for an answer in the distance. Fascinating.
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