A lecture Life of nocturnal birds took place at Pristav 18600 at 20:30 on 2nd July 2026. The lecturer was Jan Grünwald – ornithologist. The lecture consisted of showing photographs of birds accompanied by playing their sounds. The lecturer also spoke about various interesting things from the life of birds, how people are intertwined with birds and how the global warming influences their migration.
In this report, you can have a look at photos of birds and play their sounds. Thanks to it, you will feel like you are at the lecture.
The source of the text is what was heard at the lecture and information found on the Internet.
Who Jan Grünwald is
Jan Grünwald is an ornithologist. He has a bachelor’s degree from a biology at Charles University and a master’s degree in ecology from the same university. He has been studying a PhD at the department of environment at Charles University.
He has been interested in birds since childhood. He concerns himself with them and photographs them. You may check his photographs on his Instagram Czechbirder and Facebook Czechbirder.
He can recognise sounds/songs of all birds as a professional. When he walks in a forest and hear sounds of birds and doesn’t see them, he knows who the birds are anyway. He can picture them in his mind.
Guests and course of lecture
More than 50 guests were at the lecture. There was also his former classmate among them. She came to support him.
The course of the lecture was as follows: Jan Grünwald introduced himself to the audience. He said a few sentences about himself. A series of photographs which were mostly taken by him personally were shown. The photos were intertwined with playing sounds of them. During the lecture he added his commentary including various personal experiences with birds. He asked the audience whether they could recognise the sounds of the birds occasionally.
The sounds which he played were sourced from a database xeno-canto.org.
Questions from the audience were taken and answered at the end of the lecture. Applause followed at the end.
Behaviour of birds
There are two main reasons why birds sing (or shout). The first one is wooing females. The second one is guarding a territory. The higher quality of singing, the higher chance of getting females. The more the sounds of birdsscare off opponents the better for their territory. When birds live in cities, they are louder because they try to drown out city noise. They want to be heard.
Birds can be active during a day as well as during a night. Some of them sing during a day. Other ones sing during a night and quit/end their singing the next morning / noon.
Some birds have very similar appearance. They use their sounds to recognise each other. That is how they find out, they belong to the same species.
Nocturnal birds have perfect sight. They can also hear perfectly.
Due to the global warming, Mediterranean species of birds began nesting in the Czech Republic. Some birds who migrated to Africa don’t do it anymore. The weather is warm enough for them.
Species of birds shown at lecture
Great Spotted Woodpecker is a woodpecker which is characteristic by sitting on trunks of trees and bangs them with its beak. That is how the typical sound of drumming is created.
Syrian Woodpecker can sing a little bit in addition to drumming.
Syrian Woodpecker. Source: Wikipedia.
European Starling is a bird which learns easily. He can do a multitude of sounds. Its multitude of sounds is a mix of its own singing and sound of surroundings.
When it comes to mimicking sounds of surroundings, Albert’s Lyrebird is the most talented at it. Its singing is a combination of its own sounds and the sounds of surroundings.
Owls
Owls are a carnivorous species. There are more than 250 species. It is a type of a bird which is adapted to nocturnal life. They can see perfectly in the night. When owls’ eyes are lit up with a red light, they don’t mind. They don’t see the red light. Their eyes are like bulbs (The same as with cats). Their retina reflects light. They feed on insects and small mammals like common voles, common shrews and mice. They use sight and sense of hearing to catch their food.
There are 10 species in the Czech Republic. The lecturer has seen 8 of them.
Tawny Owl is a broadly widespread owl. It can live up to 30 years. It is possible to come across them in parks. You can see them in Cimicky haj in Prague. It doesn’t migrate and stay at the same place. His nickname is a mannequin (model) because it likes to be seen. His sound is a combination of hoots and shrieks. Its nests are in hollow holes of trees. It leaves the holes in the evening in order to hunt.
On the other hand, Long-eared Owl doesn’t hoot so distinctly. It is ashamed of its hooting. Offsprings are nicknamed “little monsters” and give off unpleasant whistling. Even the ChatGPT advises: “When the ghosts disturb, it is necessary to put up with it / soldier on.”
Little Owl is a threatened species in the Czech Republic. There are only 120 of them left in the Czech Republic. The lecturer said they would disappear in 10 years’ time from the Czech nature. Agricultural cultivation and farming have caused its drop. However, there are initiatives of non-profit organizations which try to deal with the issue (see at the end of the article). It is nicknamed a harbinger of death. In the past, when old people were dying in cottages, windows of the cottages were open, and a light was lit in them. The light attracted Little Owls which flew towards the cottages and landed there. Afterwards they started to hoot. That is how the superstition of the harbinger of death was created.
Eurasian Scops-Owl is a typical example of a species of owls which is gradually moving to the Czech Republic from the Mediterranean area due to the global warming. It gives off a monotonous whistling as its sound.
Other birds discussed during lecture
Gray Heron is active during both a night and a day. Its sound is kind of a squawk. There is a big nesting colony/place located in ZOO Prague. It has got used to people. When you pass it and stand next to it, it doesn’t move or can’t be bothered by you. In the past, Herons and common kingfishers were exterminated because they were a threat to fishermen. Period guides were full of instructions how to get rid of (kill) them.
Little Bittern is active during a night. Even though it is a small bird, it can pierce your eyes while ringing (attaching a ring to them). It sounds like a dog barking.
Black-crowned Night Heron is located at Stromovka park in Prague. You can see it there late in the evening or early in the morning. Its sound is typical of quacking. A couple of them escaped ZOO Prague and mixed with the wild ones. Due to the rising global temperature and good living conditions it is getting used to wintering at ZOO Prague with pelicans. Even though, this heron doesn’t winter in the Czech Republic.
Marsh Warbler is one of the best imitators. It migrates to Africa. It learns sound of African birds in Africa. Then it returns to the Czech Republic. After the return, it sounds like African birds which confuse ornithologists.
For Common Nightingale is typical to start to sign right before a sunset and to stop signing the next day around lunch. When it is rung, the process goes like this: A big, long hole is cut through bushes. A net is spread in the hole. The sound of the nightingale is played. It flies right in the trap. Afterward geolocators are attached to them. It is not possible to remotely transfer data from the geolocators yet. It means it must be caught the next year to gather the data.
However, there is a problem when catching them and removing the geolocators returning after a year. Nightingales remember precisely where there are caught. When you set up a trap at the same place the next year, they don’t fly in. The lecturer with a group of ornithologists rang 36 of them. The next year they managed to catch 9 of them. Some teams from abroad didn’t manage to catch any.
Black Redstart sings early in the morning. It usually starts 2 hours before sunrise. It also migrated in the past. However, it doesn’t migrate anymore due to the global warming and stay in the Czech Republic for the whole year.
Some species as Common Grasshopper Warbler / River Warbler / Savi’s Warbler sound like insects or an alarm clock.
Jack Snipe is a species which has a good camouflage. It sits in grass. It relies on the camouflage so much that you can just take it in your hands and it doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t expect it to happen. It relies on the camouflage heavily. Encyclopaedias claim there are only 100 of them in the Czech Republic and that it is a rare bird. However, the lecturer and his used a thermal imaging device and found out there are many more of them. They were able to ring 100 of them just in Prague in a few hours.
Initiative to save Little Owl
The lecturer mentioned the Little Owl during the lecture. There are only 120 of them left in the Czech Republic. There is a project to help them. The Little Owl is gradually disappearing from our nature because of agricultural cultivation / farming. The project is about communicating with farmers. They remove traps which could hurt the Little Owl. They also remove technical traps by installing floats to barrels and leaves catchers to gutters. They also feed them and monitor their population.
The lecturer pointed out that it is not possible to fully rely on state support when it comes to nature conservation. However, there are many non-profit organizations which deal with the nature conservation.
Even though, there are many species which keep disappearing due to human activities and the global warming, there are also many species which fare well due to the presence of humans. There are among them: Common Swift / House Sparrow and Domestic Pigeon.
Conclusion
The lecture was quite interesting. It was clear that Jan Grünwald is a professional and a specialist in his area and can transform his specialty into a form acceptable for laymen.
What about you? Do you take photographs of birds? Can you recognise their sounds? Write in the discussion below.
