Small, screaming birds: Japanese best kept worst secret?

When you hear the phrase "the sounds of Japan," what comes to mind? Is it the hot summers accompanied by a chorus of cicadas that seemingly never end? The chime of a convenience store door as someone walks in. The sounds of traffic lights at crosswalks? Or perhaps the catchy meat song from Acoop? No? Is that one is just me? I see... One sound that may not immediately come to mind is the high-pitched squawking/screaming for dear life made by hordes of tiny brown speckled birds.

My first summer was eventful, and soon, over the chorus of cicadas, a new, unfamiliar sound began to reach my ears every so often. It was a high-pitched screaming sound that cut through the cacophony of bugs desperately trying to find a mate instead of swiping on bug Tinder. Eventually, I traced the source of this noise to a small, seemingly cute brown bird perched on the wires by my school.

Enter the star of today’s blog: the Brown-eared Bulbul. There are twelve different species, but all are described by Wikipedia as common or of least concern. This medium-sized troublemaker has small brown tufts that resemble ears. Its dating profile says it loves forested areas, yet it is more at home in urban environments; indeed, it is a bird for the streets. One of my favourite descriptions I’ve come across about this bird is that it makes “one of the most unattractive noises made by any bird”—quite the title!

The Brown-eared Bulbuls screams cannot be unheard once they are experienced just once. And for me the soundtrack of Japan is now dotted with a helping of screaming birds and the earworm that is the meat song from Acoop! Don’t believe me? Treat? Yourself to hearing this marvel of birdkind by watching a YouTube video of this sound in action!

Brown-eared Bulbul