Skip to main content

Common Ostrich Sounds: Song & Call

Hear what the Common Ostrich sounds like: real field recordings including its song and call, each played with its recordist's credit and licence.

Common Ostrich
Photo: Knowledge and philosophy / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

This page documents the voice of the Common Ostrich (Struthio camelus) through real field recordings, grouped by the kind of sound each one captures. Every clip is a real recording made in the wild, played with its recordist's credit and licence — listen section by section to tell this bird's different sounds apart.

Pair what you hear with the full Common Ostrich profile — plumage, size, range and where to see one.

The Common Ostrich has 4 field recordings on Birbs covering 2 kinds of sound: its song and call.

Song 1 recording

The song is a bird's most elaborate vocalisation, used mainly to claim a territory and attract a mate. In many species it is sung mostly by males and peaks in the breeding season.

Common Ostrich — Song

Recorded by Marc Anderson Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Call 3 recordings

Calls are the short, simple notes birds use all year round — to stay in contact, coordinate with a flock, or react to what is happening around them.

Common Ostrich — Call, “Rattle”

Recorded by Michael Chiappone Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Common Ostrich — Call, Peeps

Recorded by Michael Chiappone Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Common Ostrich — Call, Booms

Recorded by Michael Chiappone Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

About these recordings

The audio comes from the xeno-canto community archive, where field recordists share their recordings under Creative Commons licences. Each player shows who recorded the clip and the licence it is shared under, and links through to the recording's own page. Recording quality and background noise vary — these are wild birds recorded in the field, not studio audio.

Like this guide?

Get our best bird guides, ID tips and gear picks in the Daily Birb. One email, zero fluff.

What are you into? (optional)

We’ll only email you what you signed up for. Unsubscribe in one click.

Sources & further reading

  1. xeno-canto (Creative-Commons bird sound archive — every recording credits its recordist) (opens in a new tab)
  2. IOC World Bird List (taxonomy & names) (opens in a new tab)