I was bathing in bird song again this morning – from about 410am. A Cuckoo sang from 415am – 445am. Probably because it is a low-pitched song it was quite difficult to locate its direction. The sound to which I listened was clearly bouncing off the wall of my own house because that was very strongly where it seemed to come from. Moving to a different location on the grass (I wouldn’t call it a lawn) it became clear that the song was actually coming from a completely (180degrees) different direction in reality.
But I also noticed that it sounded a couple of times as though there were two Cuckoos singing at the same time – that would be quite a thing! But they only sang together, and they sounded exactly the same. I’m sure that sometimes the sound was coming to me bouncing off my own (close) home and also a further away (from me and from the source of the sound) nearby house. The longer distance from the Cuckoo to the neighbouring home and then back to me was enough to make it sound, on this still and quiet early morning, that there were two Cuckoos singing at once. Worth getting up for!
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I had a similar experience with sound bouncing off a wall some years ago when I was recording Turtle Doves locally! There was a high house wall next to a field where they were often located and it made a big difference to the direction the song appeared to come from!