For those of us who live in the northland, spring is made all the sweeter by the avian concert that greets us every time we go outdoors. Some songs are iconic, like the American Robin and the Red-winged Blackbird. These sounds are so familiar that they reassure us that winter is truly over (even if we get some late season snow). It’s true that the birds who live year round in any part of the country continue to sing or call to a limited degree, but the variety and beauty of those sounds is multiplied exponentially with the arrival of spring.
Many of us grew up learning the song (written in 1932) “Let’s All Sing Like the Birdie’s Sing”.
Let’s all sing like the birdies sing,
Tweet, tweet tweet, tweet tweet.
Let’s all sing like the birdies sing,
Sweet, sweet sweet, sweet sweet.
Let’s all warble like nightingales,
Give your throat a treat.
Take your time from the birds,
Now you all know the words,
Tweet, tweet tweet, tweet tweet.
As the lyrics point out, we humans have found ways to interpret bird song so that we can try to imitate what we hear. In fact, people have found ways of interpreting some bird songs into English. This is called a mnemonic, which is defined as “a device such as a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that assists in remembering something”. For instance, some bird watchers hear the 6-10 whistled notes of the male Yellow Warbler as “Sweet, sweet, sweet, I’m so sweet”. Though only a second or two long it can be repeated as
Beautiful male Yellow Warbler
often as 10 times per minute. Another sound that Yellow Warblers make is described as chip notes. These may sound metallic or have a lisping or buzzing quality. Sometimes the males will alternate the chip sounds with their songs. Females may answer a song with a high pitched chip. When defending a territory both sexes will use a high, hissing note.
Let’s take another example – the White-throated Sparrow. This bird’s spring courtship song is translated as a thin whistle that sounds like “Oh-sweet-canada-canada” or “Old-Sam-Peabody-Peabody.” The whole song lasts about 4 seconds. This song was so distinctive that in New England it was called the Peabody bird, while across the border it was known as the Canada bird. White-throated Sparrows sing not only during the breeding season but on their winter range as well. Their call is a sharp, explosive,
A male White-throated Sparrow
“chink”, usually heard when a bird is agitated. It will raise the feathers on its head and flick its tail at the same time. It’s an alarm call often given near a nest or if there is a predator or other threat nearby. White-throated Sparrows will also trill – females as part of courtship; males to signal aggression.
Entire books have been written about birds and their ability to ‘make music’. Why birds sing can be boiled down to its most basic reason – to find a mate and a good place to make a nest. Why birds make other sounds that are known as calls – less musical and often much shorter – is generally a reaction to a threat or intrusion. But who are we to say that birds don’t sing just for the pure joy of it. There is much that is not yet fully understood about birds and their ability to make so many wonderful sounds. I have found a book that may answer some of these questions or possibly raise more. It is called, Why Birds Sing – A Journey into the Mystery of Bird Song by David Rothenberg. If you are equally intrigued by this topic you may want to read it too. Whether you do or not, just take pleasure when you go out to put bird seed in your feeders in the symphony of sounds coming from the trees and shrubs.
By Kate Crowley
