Songs of Resident Birds

By Rosemary Conroy on Friday, March 12, 2004.

listen:

It is much easier to identify birds by ear then sight. With spring on its way, Rosemary gives you a primer on the songs of our year-round birds.

Welcome to this week's edition of Something Wild. I'm Rosemary Conroy for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.

Granite Staters are lucky to have so much habitat that attracts so many birds. On the other hand, all that habitat can make it harder to see those birds. That's why many nature lovers bird by ear. It's much easier than birding by eye, especially once the trees leaf out.

And now is the time to start learning. By mastering our year-round birds first, you'll be better able to differentiate the songs of migratory birds when they arrive in May. Here's a few to get you started:

(chickadee sound)

That's the black-capped chickadee, a common visitor to bird feeders. Like many local birds, their mating song is sweet and simple.

(titmouse sound)

Another high-pitched whistler, the tufted titmouse is a bright-eyed, blue-grey bird with a crest that often tags along with chickadees.

(nuthatch sound)

Mourning Dove. (Wikipedia)

This nasally song makes me think that the white-breasted nuthatch has just heard a good joke.

Here's another one:

(mourning dove sound)

That's not an owl, but a mourning dove. Remember, owls typically call at night. If you hear this one during the day, it's likely to be a mourning dove.

(cardinal sound)

Once rare, our final songster is getting to be quite common in New Hampshire. The melliflous melodies produced by the cardinal are hard to mistake for anyone else's.

If you want to learn to bird by ear, pick up a CD or audio tape at your local nature center. Don't be surprised if you begin to hear birds singing everywhere you go!

Something Wild is a joint production of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, NHPR and New Hampshire Audubon. For Something Wild, I'm Rosemary Conroy.