THE DAWN CHORUS is in full voice, but do you know which birds are even singing? In a quest to learn to bird by ear—identifying birds by their song, rather than sight—I’m working on some of the most haunting, distinctive sounds, the ones emanating from various thrush family members in the woods around me. Listen to them, and learn more about birding by ear, with help from my friends at the BirdNote public-radio program. (That’s a wood thrush, above.)why do birds all sound different?
FIRST: the “why” question: Why are birds’ sounds so different, species to species? I asked Ellen Blackstone, our tour guide in the continuing series with BirdNote (browse all past installments).
As always, the answer is evolution: Songs evolved to match the bird’s habitat, she explained (learn more in this BirdNote segment). Each species adapted over time to succeed in communicating, despite the acoustical obstacles of its environment. Because high-pitched sounds have shorter wavelengths, they are more easily stopped by solid objects, and better sung from tree-tops. Explosive, low-pitched songs bounce better past solid obstacles.
The canyon wren’s song, for example–a series of distinct, long, higher-pitched notes–has ideal acoustics for bouncing off the tall rock faces and boulders of its habitat. Its cousin the marsh wren sings in dense stands of cattails, often from a low perch. That bird’s rapid, choppy, lower-pitched notes carry effectively there; the canyon’s wren’s style of singing would not, um, fly there. Listen to them both.
listening to thrushes
THOUGH they are technically thrushes, the Eastern bluebird and American robin have voices that are familiar to me, and I regularly see each bird in the garden, often year-round. But knowing their
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“Like the week in Lake Wobegon, it’s been mostly quiet,” says Ellen. “For the most part, the birds have stopped singing.” Turning their attention away from establishing territories, finding mates and having families—what the songs were mostly about—they’ve shifted focus. “Some birds even lose the ability to sing after the breeding season is over,” she adds (learn more about that in this BirdNote show and transcript).In the Q&A that follows, Ellen’s answers contain green links to audio files from BirdNote’s archive that you won’t want to miss. A recap of earlier stories in our series is at the bottom of the page, along with information on how to get BirdNote daily.the midsummer bird q&a with ellen blackstoneQ. So what are the birds doing as we enter midsummer?A. Many birds–wrens, robins, and others–may raise more than one brood in a breeding season. Depending on what part of the country you call h
Yes, said my friend Ellen Blackstone of the BirdNote public-radio program, who has been the tour guide for our ongoing series of bird stories here on the blog. (Browse all past installments.)The part of the bird’s brain that’s used for singing shrinks to lighten the bird’s body mass in the offseason, she explained (and here’s the link to hear more on that). In fall and winter, there is no mating ritual; no need to stake out a territory.Many birds can still s
WHETHER IT WAS THE ELECTION NEWS, THE 60-PLUS TEMPERATURES, a question from a commenter named Mars about photographing the sleeping frogboys…or the fact that I had just told you they were spending the winter in a tissue box, the frogboys made themselves known the last two days, after two weeks AWOL. “We hear you,” they said with their eyes as they bobbed to the top again.
Even the genus of the cowbird’s Latin name, Molothrus ater, probably deriving from the Greek molobros for “greedy fellow,” implies a bad reputation. Older sources say it also means vagabond, tramp or even parasite, and cowbirds are brood parasites—that is, laying their eggs in another species’ nest and not providing parental care. (Those are heavily speckled cowbird eggs in a house finch nest up top.)That we put our human values on cowbirds for leaving their children behind reminded me of something from a class on bird behavior:With that in mind, I confessed to BirdNote consulting scientist Dennis Paulson (also an expert on dragonflies, remember?) that I actually like cowbirds. I enjoyed the first male I’d seen in months, strutting his stuff here last week, like the male
In the Q&A that follows, Ellen’s answers contain green links to audio files from BirdNote’s archive that you won’t want to miss. A recap of earlier stories in our ongoing series is at the bottom of the page, along with information on how to get BirdNote daily–and if you want to give thanks to nonprofit BirdNote for all their wonderful avian “aha’s,” you can do so at this link.the turkey q&a with ellen blackstoneQ. Why isn’t the wild turkey our national bird? A. In 1784, that wise old Ben Franklin groused to his daughter, after the fact, about the choice of the bald eagle as our national symbol:“For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. …Too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle
“They’re related to crows,” I said on the phone one morning to a friend, who was noting both the large numbers of Cyanocitta cristata this winter—and how much loud-mouth behavior that’s amounting to at his feeders.“Really?” he said, and then I thought what I often do when a “fact
In the Q&A that follows, Ellen’s answers contain green links to audio files from BirdNote’s archive that you won’t want to miss. A recap of earlier stories in our ongoing series is at the bottom of the page, along with information on how to hear BirdNote daily. Easiest of all: browse all the BirdNote series stories at this link.winter bird q&a with ellen blackstoneQ. How far south do migratory birds go for the winter? A. They cover a very wide range of distances, but here’s a hint at some of the impressive extremes:Our humble barn swallow is a true long-distance migrant, and may winter as far south as southern South America, often returning to the same area year after year. Imagine: the sprightly bird that nested in the eav
“You may not (yet) know the difference between a bird’s song and its calls,” says Ellen, “but the bird sure does. It’s often sending a special message to another bird–or other birds–of its species.”In the Q&A that follows, Ellen’s answers contain green links to audio files from BirdNote’s archive that you won’t want to miss, since we’re talking sound this time. I recommend making a big pot of tea, and planning to spend some time with these answers and the corresponding sounds–it’s like a beginner’s course in birding by ear. Enjoy.bird songs versus bird callsQ. OK, I’ll take the bait, Ellen: What
In the Q&A that follows, Ellen’s answers contain green links to audio files from BirdNote’s archive that you won’t want to miss. A recap of earlier stories in our ongoing series is at the bottom of the page, along with information on how to get BirdNote daily.fall bird tasks: my q&a with ellen blackstoneQ. Obviously nobody’s using my nestboxes to raise a family right now—should I take them down? A. Yes, it’s time to take down your nestbox, at least temporarily, and clean it out. It’s a good idea to wear gloves and a dust mask while you do this. Use hot soapy water and a scrub brush, and rinse it with a pot
Remember the BirdNote backstory from last week: In 2002, the then-executive director of Seattle Audubon heard a short public-radio show called StarDate. “We could do that with birds,” she thought. In 2005 the idea became a two-minute, seven-day-a-week public-radio “interstitial” (as short programs are called) that recently caught my ear. I asked BirdNote to help me answer all the recent bird questions you had asked me. (In case you missed it last week, for installment Number 1, we tackled this subject: How do birds make themselves at home—even in winter?)Parts of Ellen’s answers below are in the 2-minute clips you can stream (all in the green links–or you can read the transcripts of each episode at those links if you prefer). Here we go:how do hummingbirds do it?Q. The miracle of hummingbird migration amazes all of us. How do they manage to migrate from the northern United States all the way to Mexico and beyon
Ellen Blackstone of the BirdNote team (who describes her job there as “writes/edits/finds photos/posts to the website/sits in on recordings”—sort of like my job at A Way to Garden) was kind and patient enough to be our teacher. Remember, parts of each answer are in the 2-minute clips you can stream (all in the green links–or you can read the transcripts of each episode at those links if you prefer). Here we go:nest, versus roostQ. The topic of where birds prefer to live, and especially the role of the nest in their lifestyles, seemed to provoke my readers’ curiosity—and also probably some misconceptions. What’s “home” to a bird? A. The great number of migratory species are all away from their nests–some as far as a different continent–during the nonbreeding season. Even among the residents, the majority of birds do not use their nest as a home but only a place to raise their young.Exceptions would be some hole-nesters that roost in their cavities throughout the year, but they are a real minority. Those might be chickadees or their cousi
In the Q&A that follows, Ellen’s answers contain green links to audio files from BirdNote’s archive that you won’t want to miss. A recap of earlier stories in our ongoing series is at the bottom of the page, along with information on how to get BirdNote daily–and if you want to give thanks to nonprofit BirdNote for all their wonderful avian “aha’s,” you can do so at this link.Q. I’ve read that flamingoes’ plumage may be more or less colorful depending on their diet, but is this true of other bird species, too?A. What on earth does the lowly house finch have in common with the elegant, long-legged flamingo? They are what they eat. In color, that is. The carotenoids in their diets affect what color they are. Carotenoids are the same pigments that give oranges and carrots–and brine shrimp–their color