Does Blackpoll Warbler have song dialects?
I’ve been aware of some variation in songs of Blackpoll Warbler for many years, and now an interesting post by Andrew Spencer at Earbirding prompted me to check into it a little more closely. Many...
View ArticleMystery Bird Song – Concord, MA
I recorded this sound (with my iPhone, please excuse the poor quality) on 29 April 2012 near my house in Concord, MA. Have a listen and see what you think. For a little additional background...
View ArticlePitch, and bird song identification
Pitch is simply our perception of the frequency (or wavelength) of a sound, which we describe as high to low. Birds’ range of hearing is similar to our own, and bird song covers the full range to the...
View ArticleTempo, and bird song identification
Part 3 of my introduction to learning bird songs is now up (click here). In this discussion, tempo refers to the overall “pace” of the song, the number of notes or phrases per second. We describe this...
View ArticlePart 4: Understanding Quality in bird song
Part 4 of my introduction to learning bird songs is now up (click here). In the narrowest sense, the quality of a bird’s voice would refer strictly to the tonal quality of the sound. Musicians call...
View ArticleBird songs Part 5: Describing Quality
Part 5 of my introduction to learning bird songs is now up (click here). Many of the words that we use to describe the quality of a bird song also carry information about pitch and tempo. For example,...
View ArticleBird Song ID series continues – Eastern Trills
The next part of my introduction to learning bird songs is now up (click here). Birds can hear a lot “faster” than we can, however, and consequently can extract a lot more information from the very...
View ArticleUnderstanding Alarm Calls of Birds
Among the many benefits of paying attention to bird sounds is that they give you an insight into what the birds are doing. Through their songs and calls the birds announce not only their presence, but...
View ArticleRed-winged Blackbirds showing off
This is the time of year when Red-winged Blackbirds are returning to marshes all over the continent, and the males are performing their showy displays to impress females and intimidate rivals. You...
View ArticleThe mysterious sounds of the American Woodcock
Download a free one-page guide to American Woodcock display The flight display of the male American Woodcock has to be one of the most remarkable avian performances in the world. And yet, despite the...
View ArticleSong Sleuth tips – How to crop a recording
Song Sleuth main page Song Sleuth is a new bird song identification app, created by Wildlife Acoustics. Watch the detailed walk-through video You can find the app now in the iTunes app store. The...
View ArticleAnnouncing Song Sleuth
I’m very excited to be able to announce the long-awaited launch of a new app – Song Sleuth – created by Wildlife Acoustics, Inc. It’s a bird song identification assistant, just a couple of taps and...
View ArticleMystery Bird Song – Concord, MA
I recorded this sound (with my iPhone, please excuse the poor quality) on 29 April 2012 near my house in Concord, MA. Have a listen and see what you think. For a little additional background...
View ArticleDoes Blackpoll Warbler have song dialects?
I’ve been aware of some variation in songs of Blackpoll Warbler for many years, and now an interesting post by Andrew Spencer at Earbirding prompted me to check into it a little more closely. Many...
View ArticleA Mystery Sound
23 Jun 2011 – Concord, MA Sitting at my desk today I was roused by a bird call that I did not immediately recognize. This is a very rare occurrence for me, especially at my house where I spend many...
View ArticleThe Proper Use of Playback in Birding
A Korean translation of this post is here With the recent surge in the availability of digital audio devices, the use of playback to attract birds into view has increased exponentially. This has fueled...
View ArticleVocal copying by American Robin
On 5 April 2011 in Concord Massachusetts I was walking the edge of a field where I often go birding, and heard very distinctly the sputtering call of an Eastern Kingbird. It was about four weeks early...
View ArticleYou too can record and identify Crossbill call types
If you’ve followed any of the discussions about identifying Red Crossbill call types, you may have given up on taking an active role in crossbill study, thinking that it would require thousands of...
View ArticleKingbirds, nightjars, and the perception of bird sounds
In a recent post on his excellent blog Earbirding, Nathan Pieplow points out an issue with the voice description of Buff-collared Nightjar in the Sibley Guide to Birds, which says: Song of rapid,...
View ArticleVocal copying by Pine Siskins
[10 July 2009 – update added at end] In July 1990 I spent several weeks birding in west-central British Columbia, where Pine Siskins were one of the most conspicuous birds, and I became convinced that...
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