For my money, the shrike-thrush is one of the most dapper and intelligent songbirds in the forest. And oh-so elegant too! Their territorial song during the warmer months is simply one of the most delightful sounds that life on Earth is capable of. No exaggeration, it is a staggering feat of sonic invention.
The recording here though is of a shrike-thrush making contact with a second bird located across the gully (the response was coming from some 150 metres away). For a long while I thought maybe these calls formed part of a thrush’s territorial voice, but after the birds in the recording below finished their vocalising, they flew to a branch together and clearly seemed pretty lovey-dovey, so I’m more confident now that it’s an actual contact call.
Note: the actual calls made on the day were more spaced apart than they are in the recording – I have cut out some of the in-between silence to fit more calls into the runtime.