The language of birdsong
Early Wednesday three of us sat on a deck under a coast redwood
tree, cradling mugs of steaming coffee in our hands and
contemplating a leaden sky. I was parked outside of a home at the
edge of the hamlet of Aromas.
The language of birdsong
Early Wednesday three of us sat on a deck under a coast redwood tree, cradling mugs of steaming coffee in our hands and contemplating a leaden sky. I was parked outside of a home at the edge of the hamlet of Aromas.
My hosts invited me there to sit for a while, and to watch the wildlife that shares the place with them.
Their home is blessed with a spring that flows at a rate of about 80 gallons per hour. Its clear water feeds a sizeable pond surrounded by oaks and a willow tree whose branches tease the surface of the pond.
Clouds of goldfinches came in to sip and bathe in a small waterfall. Robins bounced around the lawn.
We certainly saw lots of birds, but we heard more. Chickadees sounded their staccato call. A familiar three-note call delivered at the same tempo as Chi-ca-go rang from a brush pile – California quail.
Steller’s and scrub jays rasped away. Flocks of bushtits tittered as they worked their way through the canopy of trees, gleaning insects.
When most people begin hungering to know more about the birds around them, they employ their eyes, carefully noting color and shape. They often overlook one of the most compelling things about birds – their voices.
Most animals prefer not to announce their presence. Humans and many birds are the notable exceptions.
We make noise for our own reasons, but birds have a shorter list of specific purposes in mind.
Birdsong is often employed to declare an area one’s territory, and to advertise one’s availability for breeding. Northern mockingbirds can carry their vocalizing to extremes, sometimes continuing through a repertoire of songs all night long.
There’s method to the mockingbirds’ madness. Females find the males with the largest variety of songs to be most attractive. Males learn songs over time. Thus, birds with the most songs have lived longest and proven most successful at survival, making them good material for offspring.
Other birds call to stay in contact with one-another. That chickadee and those bushtits are prime examples. Bushtits, moving in flocks that collectively possess many eyes, are more likely to spot a predator than a solitary bird. Their calls help keep them in proximity to one another and assure them that the coast is clear.
The California quail has a whole language of its own, from the familiar “Chi-ca-go” call to a staccato burbling that indicates alarm.
There are tools available to people who find bird calls hopelessly confusing. Many outdoor stores sell tapes and CDs with recordings of birds. I find them somewhat helpful, but must confess that I have trouble re-connecting songs heard in the woods with a brief snippet played on the car stereo.
For a bird call to stick in my head, I’ve got to connect it to a wild bird in nature. I advise people just starting to bird by ear to try to learn only one or two calls on each outing, lest the same kind of sensory overload I get from listening to tapes begins to kick in. Most people probably already know more birdsongs than they give themselves credit for. Just think of the scratchy soprano of an Anna’s hummingbird, or the squawking of jays, or the coo of a mourning dove and you’ve got a good start.
Red-tail Hawks have a stirring two-syllable call that’s frequently used in movies and television as the one-size-fits-all voice of any raptor. Seeing an eagle soaring on the small screen and hearing a red-tail hawk’s voice always brings a comment from one of our daughters.
The voice of birds is so compelling that, for some, it comes to dominate their birding hobby. A handful of people endeavor to capture their own in-the-wild recordings. There’s a dedicated and accomplished handful of birders who can pick sounds out of the trees like magicians. Some of those people have no choice – they are blind, but open-minded enough not to let that obstacle interfere with their love of wild things.
