It’s always a treat to have birds in your back yard. But, it’s even better if you’re able to identify birds by their songs.
All around the world, people are able to hear birdsong throughout the day. Waking up to the morning chorus or hearing them on your commute to work, birds are always communicating around us. But, are you able to identify a bird by it’s song? And, how can you improve your bird identification?
Identifying birds by their song can be quite a daunting task. Especially when they are tucked up in trees on the tallest branches. But, by understanding why and how bird songs and calls are used we can start to identify them. This article will provide helpful tips, tricks and resources to help you identify bird species in your back yard.
Follow These Steps to Identify Birds by Their Songs
Birdsong is a hugely diverse symphony of contact calls, alarm calls and mating rituals. These are all sounds that we can separate and listen out for. Around the world, birds usually make two types of noise. Either they produce contact calls or songs. Contact calls, or alarm calls, are short, sharp and usually quite complex noises to tell apart.
Songs are more easily told apart as birds sing to attract mates or hold down their territory. Opposite species also identify any threat involved with particular calls. Similarily, you can learn different species songs using the following steps:
1. Use Your Eyes
To identify birds by their songs, the best place to start is to know what birds could be in your backyard. With a little patience and practice identifying backyard birds by their songs will be easy in no time.
One of the best ways to learn is to use your eyes to help your ears. By learning what the bird looks like and connecting it with a song or call, your identification ability will improve quickly.
2. Learn From Others
By familiarising yourself with backyard bird species you can spend time listening out for various songs. A great way to start is to join a naturalists or a local birding group.
A good birding field guide in hand is also very useful such as the Sibley Guide for Birds that are specific to the united States. The Kaufman Guide for birds is particularly good for beginner birders.
3. Use Technology
In this day and age, there are plenty of apps specifically designed to help you identify birds by their songs. Merlin, by the Cornell Lab, is a very popular app that records bird song in your area. It also provides common songs and calls of each species to help you repeat and learn over time. This is a quick way of identifying a birds song and remembering the species symphony in your state.
4. Mnemonics
It is also important to learn different tones and notes that birds produce. Instead of memorizing every song as best you can, become aware of the different rhythms and repetitions involved in each song. By using recorded bird songs you can gradually better identify the flutelike or scratchy tones or the changing pitches of differing species.
Identify the Common Backyard Birds of the US:
American Robin:
Song: common through North America, this little orange-busted bird will sing loud and proud on your lawn or cherry tree year round. Listen out for a number of high pitched, drawn out notes which quickly descend in pitch and increase in speed. Their song is a territorial declaration to your backyard and one you should standout from the rest.
Call: they often sound like they’re laughing or chuckling sounding like a ‘tuk’ or ‘cuck’ whilst communicating with eachother.
Mourning Dove:
Song: commonly mistaken for a species of owl, doves have quite a melancholy coo that repeats over time. The song, or otherwise known as a ‘perch-coo’ starts with a soft coo-oo followed by a few louder coo’s. their song is distinctive as the middle syllable is much louder and longer.
Call: a nest call will often be heard as a ‘cooOOoo’ while nest building is occurring. A loud whistle can also be heard to warn others of predators or imminent danger.
Nuthatch:
Song: predominantly sung by males, nuthatches have a very identifiable and rapid song made up of low-pitched ‘wha-wha-wha’, lasting a few seconds. Made of identical notes, their songs are displayed at varying speeds. They are often referred to as a squeaky toy perched along your fence line.
American Goldfinch:
Song: dependent on whether a male or female is singing, their songs are made up of twitters and warbles that vary throughout their lifespan.
Call: making identifying birds by their songs a little harder, goldfinches have stand out calls made up of clear notes, trills and stutters at varying speeds.
Downy Woodpecker:
Uniquely distinctive for this species of bird, woodpeckers lack a melody or song. Throughout deciduous forests, these North American woodpeckers produce throaty high-pitched notes that descend towards the end of the call. If excited, these woodpeckers will give an even higher pitched chirp over a few seconds heard echoing through woodlands.
House Finch:
Song: the songs of these birds is rather soothing coupled with a sharp note towards the end. Males sing throughout the year and females deliver a softer version.
Call: both male and female house finches deliver a sharp ‘ cheep’ alarm call while perched or in flight. Both males and females deliver distinctive calls comprised of two or three liquid syllables.
Song Sparrow:
Song: these birds produce a very loud and often clanky song with two to six phrases, well spaced notes and ends with a buzz or trill. However, the song patterns these birds produce vary as they travel vast distances.
Call: to alarm others around them, sparrows will produce a sharp chirp like note.
