Learning Bird Vocalizations - Birding Basics
(Birding by Ear)
Joe Kegley
Almost every bird species in the Southeast can be identified by it's unique vocalization. Providing the species is making vocalizations. Many species become quiet after breeding season and do not 'sing', while others 'sing' throughout the year.
Not only does a thorough knowledge of bird vocalizations help you identify bird species, it can help you locate birds of interest also. While visual identification requires a line of sight vantage point, your hearing provides a 360 degree field of opportunity.
As mentioned before in the 'Bird Identification' section, bird vocalizations are usually broken down into two categories; bird songs and bird calls. Both songs and calls can be used in the identification process.
Bird Songs are generally the most distinctive vocalizations and are more melodic with the phrases lasting longer than calls. Bird songs are used to establish and maintain territories and to attract/maintain a mate. Generally it is the male bird that sings, though there are exceptions. Many species only sing during the breeding season.
One should note that there can be variations of the typical song given by an individual species. Sometimes the variations are region specific, while other times individual species have variations within the same region.
Bird Calls are used for various communication purposes, such as keeping members of a flock in contact, flight calls, feeding, or for alarming. Generally calls are short repeated chips, chirps, and trills. Both male and females use calls. Unlike many bird songs, calls are made year round. While calls can sound similar between some species, one should take note that many times it is the call that can be used to make the positive identification when two species songs are similar.
Methods for learning bird vocalizations.
Bird songs (and calls) can be learned using a combination of the following methods:
Field Experience.
There is no substitute for field experience when it comes to learning bird vocalizations. Hearing and visually identifying a species in the wild sets that vocalization into memory.
Studying and listening to bird song recordings.
There are many bird song collections available for purchase either on CD or included in software. Be aware that quality and quantity do vary between vendors. Suggested cds and software are listed below.
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Applying phonetic representations (such as those in the field guides).
For example Peterson's Birds of Eastern and Central North America has the follow descriptive representations; Black-throated Green Warbler - "zee zee zee zee zoo zee" or Great Crested Flycatcher - loud whistling "Wheep!" and/or rolling "prrrrrreet!".
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Applying mnemonics
An example of a popular mnemonic phrase is the one for remembering the White-throated Sparrow song, "Oh Sam Peabody Peabody Peabody". The entire mnemonic phrase represents the metering (timing) of the notes sung by the White-throated Sparrow. "Oh Sam" represents the two long intro notes and the "Peabody" represents the last three phrases which each contain three notes slurred together (resembling the syllables in "Peabody").
Applying adjectives and adverbs to describe the quality of the bird vocalization.
Examples might include; 'Flute like' for the Thrushes, 'Whistle like' for the Eastern Meadowlark and the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 'Buzzy' for the Blue-winged and Golden Winged Warbler, a 'harsh Rattle' for the House Wren call, a 'descending Whinny' for the Screech Owl or Downy Woodpecker, or 'Nasally' for the Red-breasted Nuthatch.
Realize that the examples in the last 3 bullets (phonetics, mnemonic, and adjective/adverb descriptions), are popular representations and there is no reason one should not make up their own versions. What works for you is the right thing to use.
As an example, I like to group the birds that trill into 'Insect Sounding' and 'Non-Insect Sounding'. What sounds like an insect to me might not to other folks. I have also attached the description 'small yappy dog barking' to the Black-crowned Night-Heron. Others may not think it sounds like a small dog barking at all. But if it helps me remember, that's what counts.
Learning bird vocalizations will take repetitive study along with field experience. Don't expect to memorize 50 birds songs in a week and remember them the next week. One really needs to experience the vocalizations they have studied in the field to set particular species into memory. There is no substitute for field experience.
Bird Vocalization Learning Tools.
The following are suggested tools for learning bird vocalizations. While there are many methods and resources available for learning bird vocalizations, I personally use the following and endorse all of them. I placed the tools in order of skill level. If you are just starting out I strongly suggest the first two sets of audio CD's. If you are at an intermediate level with your bird song repertoire, than I suggest the Stoke's 3 CD set or the Thayer Software, or even better... a combination of both.
One of the benefits of using an audio CD (the first three tools mentioned) as a method of learning is that you can study while in the car. Most folks spend a fair amount of time on the road, traveling between family visits, work, or vacations. What better way to spend that time than learning something you have a vested interest in.
For starting out I 'highly' recommend the Peterson Field Guides "Birding by Ear Eastern/Central" CD's by Dick Walton and Robert Lawson. This 3 cd set is inexpensive and includes vocalizations (and instruction for learning) 85 species found in the eastern United States. Even more important, this set will give you the foundation for learning future bird vocalizations not included on the cd's.
Dick demonstrates how to identify specific 'vocal field marks' for individual vocalizations. Using examples, he reveals how it is not necessary to memorize the melody of some songs, but instead look for clues within the vocalization that are unique for a particular species.
One will learn that rhythm, pitch, cadence, and repeating patterns, are just as important (sometimes more so) for identifying bird species as the actual melody.
The bird vocalizations are grouped by similar sounding songs. Phonetic representations, mnemonics, and descriptive characteristics, are discussed where applicable. The third cd contains tests for all 85 vocalizations, grouped by habitat.
Another 3 CD set continuing in the style and format of the original, Peterson Field Guides "More Birding by Ear Eastern/Central" by Dick Walton and Robert Lawson contains an additional 96 bird species and their vocalizations.
If you learn the vocalizations from both series, your repertoire will be 181 bird species. Not too bad for just starting out learning bird songs. Realize there will be a lot of repetition and field experience necessary to absorb this information.
One of the things I like about this series of the 3 CD set is that it contains 25 species of Warbler vocalizations. In combination with the first series above, one will have learned 36 species of Warblers. Just a little more and you pretty much got the southeastern Warbler species covered.
Like the original series there is a grouping of tests on the third CD organized by habitats.
"Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern Region" by Donald and Lillian Stokes contains three CD's covering the vocalizations of 372 species found in the eastern US. Lang Elliott introduces each species by name which is then followed by various songs and calls made by the bird. Included in the set is a guide booklet listing each species along with phonetic and mnemonic representations.
Because CD's can contain only 99 tracks, 75 tracks on the CD set must contain two bird species. Most of the doubled up tracks are long-legged waders, waterfowl. some hawks, rails, and some shorebirds. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on what you're wanting to study) most perching bird tracks contain one bird selection per track.
Using this CD set, one can target individual bird families for study. You can use iTunes or other CD creation software to selectively create bird groupings on a CD for study.
For instance you could make your own CD with just the Sparrow songs or maybe just the Warbler songs (including the few that were missing on the 'Birding by Ear' series).
Another idea might be making a CD that only contains birds associated with a particular location and/or habitat you plan to visit in the future.
"Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern Region" provides a comprehensive repertoire for each bird species, with most vocalizations lasting 20 to 45 seconds. Most passerine tracks contain the vocalization of one individual bird species allowing the creation of a custom bird vocalization CD possible.
By comparison most bird songs on the Peterson's "A Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern and Central North America" by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology , last only about 15 seconds, and some closer to 10 seconds. Also the tracks on this 'one CD set' are composed of large groupings of birds making it is very difficult to create your own CD for study using only selected birds. In addition the Peterson's "A Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern and Central North America" set only contains 267 individual bird vocalizations.
Therefore, for learning bird vocalizations heard in the southeast, I favor "Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern Region" over Peterson's "A Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern and Central North America"
Thayer Software's "Guide to Birds of North America v5.0 Gold" and "Guide to Birds of North America v3.9" are complete birding references in a software format. Both include information on over 900 North American bird species, over 2,800 photos, over 700 audio songs, and over 900 range maps.
What makes the software a great learning tool and the reason for its inclusion in this section are the quizzes you can build to test yourself. One can create a 'custom list' with specific birds of interest, then use this list to create various styles of quizzes to be tested on. Specifically, you can create quizzes that test yourself on bird songs.
For instance, using v5.0, I created a custom list using the following states (TN,KY,VA,NC,SC,GA,FL,AL,MS,LA,WV) and the bird family 'Parulidae' as criteria. This created a list of 49 Warblers found in the Southeast. I then used this list to create a multiple choice quiz on the 49 warblers, selecting only sound to be tested on (as opposed to being tested on a picture, picture and sound, video, and range map).
Realize both versions of this software do much more than what is explained above and probably warrant a broader review. Because this section is on learning bird vocalizations, only the bird song quiz aspect has been discussed.
Also note there are differences between the software versions. Both v5.0 and v3.9 allow you to create bird song quizzes like the one mentioned above. But version 5.0 allows you to import your own bird songs (and/or photos and videos) in the event you would like to use something different than the included bird vocalizations. There are other differences as well but they are not applicable to this section.
Version 3.9 is about 1/2 the price of version 5.0.