BirdNote; Voices and Vocabularies - The Basics

BirdNote®

Voices and Vocabularies – The Basics

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

[A sound mix that includes just the basic songs of Red-winged Blackbird, Willow Flycatcher, Common Yellowthroat – each song once]

Three different birds are singing across a marsh.

[Red-winged Blackbird, Willow Flycatcher, Common Yellowthroat]

One bird’s voice comes across as a brassy “kon-ka-REE!” [Red-winged Blackbird song, twice]. A second sounds like a sneeze [Willow Flycatcher "fitz-bew", twice]. And a third voice has a galloping rhythm [Brisk Common Yellowthroat song].

Here are the three again, together. See if you can hear the differences.

[Red-winged Blackbird, Willow Flycatcher, Common Yellowthroat]

Congratulations! You’ve just made the essential step in learning how to recognize bird songs: hearing what’s distinctive in one bird’s voice, compared to another bird’s voice.

So who are these three marsh birds we’ve been sorting out? The brassy voice belongs to a Red-winged Blackbird [Red-winged Blackbird song, twice]. A Willow Flycatcher made that sneezy “FITZ! bew” [Willow Flycatcher “fitz-bew,” twice]. And the repeated, galloping phrases? [Brisk Common Yellowthroat song] That’s the song of a Common Yellowthroat.

Birds’ voices are an invitation. They invite us to get to know the singers better. And for a moment to step into nature.

[Brisk Common Yellowthroat song twice]

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Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Red-winged Blackbird #57196 recorded by W.W.H. Gunn. Willow Flycatcher #129025 recorded by M.J. Anderson. Ambient and Common Yellowthroat #163344 recorded by Matthew Medler.

BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and produced by John Kessler.

Producer: John Kessler

Executive Producer: Chris Peterson

© 2016 Tune In to Nature.org March 2014/2017/2020 Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# sound-12-2013-03-01 sound-12