The morning chorus of bird song is a phenomenon we associate with summer.\u00a0 Male songbirds sing vigorously then to attract a mate and ward off other males.\u00a0 Of course, one of the joys of birding is learning to identify singing males by their species-specific songs.Outside of the breeding season, males typically don\u2019t sing.\u00a0 However, most birds have distinctive call notes that are used to communicate with other members of their species.\u00a0 Birders can use these call notes to identify birds in the winter.<\/p>\n
This winter is shaping up as a great winter for the irruptive winter finches.\u00a0 All of our finches call frequently. Their call notes are among the most difficult of our winter birds to learn but well worth the effort.\u00a0 Finches are very mobile, social birds.\u00a0 Flocks often pass over at fairly high heights, too high to permit identification through binoculars.\u00a0 Knowing the call notes can clinch an identification.<\/p>\n
Our most familiar finch is the American Goldfinch.\u00a0 In flight, goldfinches give a call note that can be represented as \u201cper-chick-o-ree\u201d or \u201cpotato chip\u201d.\u00a0 Goldfinches also give a rather whiny \u201cchi ee\u201d call as well.\u00a0 The scientific name of the goldfinch, Carduelis tristis<\/i>, reflects the sound of this call; tristis<\/i> is Latin for sad, an apt description of the call note.<\/p>\n
The Pine Siskin, like the goldfinch, is a small finch with an absolutely distinctive call.\u00a0 It\u2019s a buzzy note that screeches upward.\u00a0 Think of it as an upslurred \u201czreeee\u201d.<\/p>\n
A third small finch, the Common Redpoll, can be easily confused with the American Goldfinch by its calls.\u00a0 The typical flight call is a \u201cchit chit\u201d or \u201cchit chit chit\u201d.\u00a0 Redpolls also have a note that sounds like the sad, whiny note of the goldfinch.<\/p>\n
Two medium-sized finches, the House Finch and the Purple Finch, occur regularly in our area.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to study the calls of House Finches as they are very common at feeders.\u00a0 Their call can be written as \u201ccheet\u201d.\u00a0 It is a sweet note, often repeated several times when a bird takes flight.<\/p>\n
The Purple Finch has a much softer call note.\u00a0 Usually given in flight, the note can be described as a soft \u201cpit\u201d.<\/p>\n
I devoted the last two columns to two species of grosbeaks that are currently widespread in Maine: the Evening Grosbeak and the Pine Grosbeak. Both call frequently in flight and often fly well above of the treetops.\u00a0 The Evening Grosbeak\u2019s call is sometimes written as \u201ccleer\u201d or \u201ccleep\u201d.\u00a0 The note carries well.\u00a0 Words are not adequate to describe the distinctive sound of this call.\u00a0 Once heard, the call will become one of the most distinctive ones you will encounter birding.<\/p>\n
The Pine Grosbeak has a softer call.\u00a0 Usually, these birds give a two- or three-note whistle with the second note having the highest pitch.\u00a0 This whistle is a beautiful call that evokes images of the snow-covered North Woods.\u00a0 In flight, a soft trill is often heard as well.<\/p>\n
I will end with Brown Creepers, cryptic yet surprisingly common birds in Maine.\u00a0 Their mottled brown plumage on their upperparts makes them magically disappear as they forage on tree trunks.\u00a0 However, their presence is often revealed to an experienced birder by their high-pitched, buzzy \u201cseet\u201d note.\u00a0 One you learn to recognize this call note, you will be surprised how often you will detect the presence of a Brown Creeper.\u00a0 Seeing one is another matter.<\/p>\n
Learning bird notes by reading descriptions of what they sound like is a challenge.\u00a0 It\u2019s much better is to let the birds be your teachers.\u00a0 When you hear a call you don\u2019t recognize, track the bird down and identify it by sight.\u00a0 There are lots of good commercial recordings of bird sounds.\u00a0 A wonderful website that provides multiple sound recordings for each species is can be found at:\u00a0 (http:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n [First published on December 9, 2012]<\/p>\n\n The morning chorus of bird song is a phenomenon we associate with summer.\u00a0 Male songbirds sing vigorously then to attract a mate and ward off other males.\u00a0 Of course, one of the joys of birding is learning to identify singing males by their species-specific songs.Outside of the breeding season, males typically don\u2019t sing.\u00a0 However, most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4625,4627],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":549,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548\/revisions\/549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/mainebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}