I love walking in my
neighborhood early in the morning, right before dawn. As spring is upon us, so is the cacophony of
bird songs. Our neighborhood is heavily
wooded and the two mile jaunt is serenaded by hundreds of birds. However, most of these birds are high in the
tree canopy and can be heard but not seen.
This morning was was exceptionally noisy, but in a very pleasant
way.
So this brings the challenge,
I cannot see them but hear them. How on
earth does one tell them apart? Well to
be honest, having gone on a few birding adventures with my fellow naturalists
and having them point out different songs, the realization dawned on how
importing songs and bird calls were. Cornell
Lab of Ornithology has a fantastic website with bird calls and personally it is
the site I have used to learn songs.
The site offers up some valuable tips for beginners, my goal is one new
song every week. Once the song is
learned, then a field test is in order, can I hear the bird along my walk? Now as I walk, I am starting to recognize the
songs. Such as the tufted titmouse,
cardinal, Carolina wren, crow, etc. so when now I can hear a bird and think –
hmmm………I haven’t heard that song before, then try to visually see the bird to
go home and learn the song.
Through this process other
sounds have been learned as well, such as the scolding grey squirrel and the chattering chipmunks. It is amazing what
you hear, when you take off the headphones and simply listen. Nature has a lot to say.
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