Noc-migging: My story so far

My journey into noc-migging began in September of this year after hearing a fantastic talk given by Magnus Robb at the Ebro Delta Birding Festival. Upon returning home (to El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona) I immediately began recording from my balcony and I've been hooked ever since. I've been so surprised at what has turned up because my location is 100% urban and I never see many birds where I live, even though I'm just 10 minutes from Llobregat Delta.

To cut things short this is just a brief summary of what I have recorded from the beginning up until the time of writing. Everything has been recorded with my very simple but really effective setup of an Olympus LS-12 (I would highly recommend it to any would-be noc-miggers), secured in a measuring jug with some cling film and elastic band! The batteries keep my setup running all night and into the morning and the cling film keeps it safe from the rain, without affecting the sound too much at all. I collect it at around 9am and analyse the data using Audacity when I have a free hour.

Fig. 1. Olympus LS-12 in it's measuring jug and cling-film casing

Fig. 2. My balcony. Not exactly a bird sanctuary at first glance - yet what flies overhead may surprise you.

Before I continue, I suggest you read this with some earphones as some of the calls, particularly the earlier ones are quite faint. 

To my surprise on the first night, on the 23rd of September, I recorded my first migrants, in the form of some Black-crowned Night Herons. These of course, as well as most following nocmig birds were most welcome apartment ticks. This recording is not the best as I was still toying with settings and editing techniques in Audacity. I recorded another group on the 8th of October.

The next night I drew a blank and I thought the Night Herons were just a fluke, but the next night I scored again with a Tree Pipit! This was most unexpected and it was a pleasure to hear this as it is one of my favourite calls! I recorded a second on the 26th of September.

Fig. 3. A typical Tree Pipit call sonogram. 24/09/19

The Tree Pipit really urged me on as I now knew my setup was capable of detecting small passerines. This was further backed up on the night of the 25th, when to my amazement my recorder had picked up a nocmig Firecrest, calling over at 3am. This was quite exciting because Magnus had spoken of the scarcity of this species as a Nocmig recording, so I was very happy. This was again another apartment tick. I went on to record others on Oct' 23rd, Nov' 2nd & Nov' 6th.

Fig. 4. My first nocmig firecrest. 25/09/19

The next nocmig bird came in the form of two migrant Blackbirds. This is one of the few species I had seen from my apartment before but it was a welcome nocmig tick!

Fig. 5. The typical modulating call of 2 migrant Blackbirds.

On the 8th of October I added two apartment ticks one of which was most unexpected: Grey Heron &; Common Moorhen. Grey Heron was nice but I had never pictured Moorhens as a vocal nocturnal migrant. I never thought I would encounter the species here either as there is no suitable habitat for several kilometers. It was here I began to realise just how surprising this technique could prove to be. 

Fig. 6. Calls from a nocturnal migrant Grey Heron. 08/10/19

Fig. 7. Calls from a migrating Moorhern. 08/10/19

Another surprise came on the night of October 10th, when a Redwing called once over my apartment in the early hours. This is a difficult species to connect with in the delta and at that time I had only ever connected with one bird, the previous November. So to have one over my house was great!

Fig. 8. Redwing, Cal Tet, Delta Llobregat. November 2018

Much to my surprise, I had another Redwing the next night, and the next and the next and to the point where I have only missed the species one or two nights up until the time of writing. My highest count in a single night was 91 birds which was truly surprising. This scarce patch species doesn't seem so scarce now! Without the whole nocmig process I would never have known this. It just seems that, for whatever reason not many of these birds stop off in the delta, on their southbound journey. Where are they going though? There is a wintering population in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, so perhaps there!

In the coming nights, Song Thrushes also began to feature on a nightly basis and are still coming now, at the time of writing. My high count of that species was 628 on the night of the 23rd of October. With so many birds coming per minute this is a conservative estimate. It's possible there were many more birds but at times it was difficult to tell if I was double counting so if there was any doubt I left birds out, rather than the opposite. 

Fig. 9. The distinctive sonograms of the Redwing's "tseeep" call and the "tsip" call of a Song Thrush.

To give you an idea of how busy some nights were I have included some samples of nocturnal thrush migration from Oct' 30th & Nov' 6th below: 

On the 15th of October an expected arrival came in the form of the first Black Redstart of the winter. This was more of a morning record rather than an actual nocmig record but it's all welcome! This bird or another has remained up until the time of writing, with a minimum of three wintering on our street corner. They usually start calling at about 6:30 every morning and it's allowed for some nice incidental recordings. 

Fig. 10. Two dry chack calls, followed by a the more typical stationary "hueet" call of a Black Redstart. 16/11/19

After this morning record, I decided to start checking the data from the first hours of light as well as the night time and this resulted in another apartment tick in the form of a Grey Wagtail the next day. 

Fig. 11. Migrant Grey Wagtail flight call. 16/10/19

The following night, the 17th saw the first of yet another wintering species - a Robin. This was a true nocmig record once again, occurring at 1am. Nocmig robins became a regular feature up until November when birds had settled and established winter territories, with one permanent territory occurring in the garden below our apartment. This bird sings at all hours, often at 3 in the morning.

Fig. 12. Calls from a migrating Robin. 17/10/19

My first ever wader came on the 20th of October in the form of a Common Sandpiper and oddly this was followed the next night by a Green Sandpiper! Both were new for my apartment. 

Fig. 13. Nocmig Common Sandpiper. 20/10/10

Fig. 14. Nocmig Green Sandpiper. 20/10/19

The next apartment tick was the biggest shocker of all. The wind had been howling from the east for a few days with rain and on the night of the 22nd, things were at a peak. All previous nights with rain were pretty poor but I decided to put the recorder out anyway as I had nothing to lose. When I started editing the data in the morning I was almost immediately met with a familiar looking sonogram - YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER. At 21:56 on the 22nd of October, a Yellow-browed Warbler flew low down over my apartment, calling three times. This was by far the highlight so far since my beginnings and I'm sure it won't be the last surprise, either. 

Fig. 15. The typical v-shaped sonogram of a Yellow-browed Warbler, from my apartment. 22/10/19

It was a bit of an anti-climax after the Yellow-browed Warbler until I struck lucky again with another fantastic and unexpected apartment tick at 3am on the 25th - Brambling! I didnt recognise the sonogram at all and when I put my earphones in and pressed play it was a great moment - what an unmistakable call!

Fig. 16. Nocmig Brambling. 25/10/19

It didn't end there though. Just an hour later my apartment stuck again with a very clear Hawfinch with another bird at 6am. The following night another 2-3 birds flew over very close giving two distinct call types.

Fig. 17.  Nocmig Hawfinch. 25/10/19

 

Fig. 18. A group of nocmig Hawfinch giving two call types. 26/10/19

On the 2nd of November, the next surprise came, when a Little Grebe flew over calling at midnight. This is a bird that seemed even more unlikely than a Yellow-browed Warbler before I started noc-migging, but this new hobby is opening up a whole new world and I'm beginning to realise that just about anything is possible. 

Fig. 19. Nocmig Little Grebe. 02/11/19

As Autumn faded away and Winter continued to creep up, a variety of expected species began to turn up at my doorstep, including Skylark, Siskin, Dunnock and Reed Bunting, in no particular order. All of these were recorded in the first hours of light, but Skylark was also recorded several times in the middle of the night too. 

Fig. 20. Nomig Skylark. 06/11/19

Fig. 21. Early morning Siskin. 07/11/19

Fig. 22. Early morning migrant Dunnock. 09/11/19

Fig. 23. Early morning Reed Bunting. 18/11/19

On the 6th of November another good bird flew over - a Fieldfare - a species I have yet to see here in the delta. The recording is just about audible, however, and is not worth sharing here. Again, on the morning of  the 8th of November at 4am a big surprise came in the form of a nocmig Mistle Thrush. This species doesn't call very much at night so I was lucky. Even luckier, I had another the following night! This is another difficult bird to see in the area and I've have only ever had one once before - earlier this autumn as a daytime flyover.

Fig. 24. Redwing (left) and Mistle Thrush nocmig calls. 08/11/19

Another surprise was a early morning flyover Yellowhammer (a scarce species here) on the 11th

Fig. 25. Early morning migrant Yellowhammer. 11/11/19

On the 16th, I added yet another bunting to the apartment, with a fine, clear Cirl Bunting.

Fig. 26. Early morning migrant Cirl Bunting. 16/11/19

That's it for now. I must say I am really enjoying this new found aspect of my birding and I'm learning so much. It turns your normal ideals of birding upside down. I would never have imagined these birds were flying over my apartment. Also, no matter how comfortable you feel in the field, this will absolutely throw you out of that comfort zone and challenge you head on. There is no context with these calls and of course you don't see anything, except for the sonogram.So it forces you to really listen and understand which inevitably can only fine tune your birding skills.

Then there are the unexpected birds that have been passing over your head all this time. For example, last year I was delighted to find a Redwing on patch. It was a good bird. This year I've recorded a total of 420 between Oct' 10th and Nov' 20th, not to mention the Yellow-browed Warbler, 3 Brambling and 11 Hawfinch among the 40 or so species recorded so far. Amazingly, in the same time frame I recorded 1934 Song Thrushes, as well as 96 Robins & 70 Blackbirds. From here on in I'll be continuing to record at night, every night, unless I can't for some reason, so keep watching this space.

Acknowledgements

I have to thank Magnus Robb for his talk and for his help and correspondence over the last few weeks. My friends Harry Hussey & Gary Woodburn have both been of great help with some of the trickier identifications, as well as everyone over on the newly formed CAT Nocmig WhatsApp group!