By Don Lyman
The Boston Globe, April 23, 2021
As we move into spring, it seems that birds are suddenly everywhere. Whether year-round residents like cardinals or chickadees, or migratory species like warblers returning from their wintering grounds in warm, faraway places, a lot of birds start advertising their presence by singing.
“Male songbirds sing to establish territories and attract mates,” said Wayne Petersen, director of the Massachusetts Important Bird Areas program for Mass Audubon. “Good territories help males attract females.”
(Right: Black-throated Blue Warbler seen in Mount Auburn Cemetery in May 2017. JARED KEYES)
Lengthening days and increasing temperatures stimulate the release of hormones that trigger singing in male birds, explained Petersen. The females, attracted by the males’ songs, will check out the singer and his territory, and if she likes what she sees, she may choose him as a mate. Even after the males secure a mate and breed, they continue to sing to let other males know this territory is taken.
One of the more interesting aspects of bird song is what biologists call the “dawn chorus” — the veritable symphony of multiple species of birds singing when the sun comes up. And why would birds feel compelled to start singing while many of us are still sleeping?
“They’ve been asleep, and they’re waking up, so the first task of the day is to advertise to other males that they have a territory,” explained Petersen. “As the day progresses, they have other things to do [like look for food].”
Petersen said some birds resume singing just before dusk. Learning the voices of birds is a challenge, said Peter Alden, naturalist, birder, and author from Spark Birding, a bird-watching organization founded by Alden and his colleague, Chris Bensley, based in Sandwich, N.H.
“Bird vocalizations are broken down to calls and songs,” Alden said in an e-mail. “Calls are given all year round such that birds can keep in touch with their mates, warn of predators, invite others to discovered food sources, and just saying all is well. Songs are given by the males to tell others of their kind that they are defending a territory for breeding.”
Most species of songbirds have their own distinctive songs.
Petersen said learning bird songs takes repetition — hearing the songs several times — and a good auditory memory: hearing and recognizing and remembering different bird songs. For example, cardinals have loud, ringing songs. The tufted titmouse sings, “Peter, Peter, Peter,” and the diminutive Carolina wren sounds like it’s singing, “teakettle, teakettle, teakettle.”
Some birds, like the pine warbler, the chipping sparrow, and the dark-eyed junco — which all produce loud, musical trills — have similar-sounding songs. Knowing the type of habitat the different birds prefer can help identify them in this case, said Petersen. If the song is coming from a white pine tree, it’s likely a pine warbler that you’re hearing.
“If you hear an unfamiliar bird song, try to track the bird down and identify it,” said Petersen. Some animals make noises that sound like birds. Chipmunks, which make a high-pitched chirping sound, and gray treefrogs that produce a high-pitched trill, can sometimes be confused with birds, Petersen explained.
Websites and apps, such as xeno-canto and Cornell University’s BirdNET, are good resources for identifying bird songs, said Petersen.
In April, the majority of the songbirds we see and hear in Massachusetts are resident birds that overwintered, including cardinals, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, Carolina wrens, house finches, goldfinches, and song sparrows, said Alden. Some of our early returning songbirds that winter mainly in the southern United States join this musical chorus, Alden explained.
“These would include the red-winged blackbird [makes a “conk-ah-ree” sound]; common grackle [produces an unmusical creaking]; American robin [delightful song, often described as “cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up”]; northern flicker [up to 15 loud “wicka” notes]; eastern phoebe [a harsh “fee-bee” — do not confuse with the musical fee-bee song of our chickadee]; pine warbler [makes 10 rapid musical chips high in a white pine tree]; and chipping sparrow [makes 10 rapid dry “chip” notes near homes],” said Alden.
It is not until May that the majority of our neotropical songbird migrants arrive from wintering grounds in the Neotropics: the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America, Alden explained.
“These are mainly insect eaters that time their return to the leaf-out of tree and shrub leaves which harbor protein-rich caterpillars and some flying insects,” said Alden. “These often colorful birds include gems such as Baltimore orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks, scarlet tanagers, and indigo buntings.”
“May is the month for birding, a wonderful time to be out,” said Petersen. “The middle two weeks of May have the biggest number of migratory birds. Mother’s Day weekend is typically the peak of spring migration time.”
Petersen said some popular bird-watching spots in the Boston suburbs include Plum Island (Parker River Refuge) and Joppa Flats, Newburyport; Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield; Marblehead Neck Wildlife Sanctuary; Belle Isle Marsh in East Boston; Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge; Blue Hills Reservation in Milton; Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord; Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in South Natick; Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area in Hanson; Plymouth Beach and Myles Standish State Forest in Plymouth; Middlesex Fells Reservation in in Malden, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham, and Winchester; and Heard Pond & Pelham Island Road area in Wayland.
Asked whether bird watching has become more popular during the pandemic, Petersen said, “Absolutely, no question about it. Mass Audubon membership has gone way up. There’s been an increased interest in birds and backyard birding because people could go out walking, even during lockdown.”
Alden agreed.
“Since March 2020, thousands of people have searched for local spots for healthy, safe walking trails that they may have ignored in the past,” he said. “Many citizens are discovering outdoor places nearby for the first time. Formerly lonely paths, sanctuaries, and rail trails have seen increased usage.”
Thousands of people have been hearing and seeing birds they never knew existed, said Alden, and there has been a bump in the sales of field guides, binoculars, and telephoto camera lenses.
Petersen said the question now is will the increase in backyard birding continue when the pandemic goes away?
***
Try these resources for birding opportunities and bird and bird song identification:
Mass Audubon massaudubon.org/learn/nature-wildlife/birds
Spark Birding www.sparkbirding.com
Cornell Ornithology Lab allaboutbirds.org/news, birdnet.cornell.edu
xeno-canto xeno-canto.org
For even more inspiration, read “Birder on Berry Lane: Three Acres, Twelve Months, Thousands of Birds,” by Robert Tougias. It’s a yearlong account of the author’s observations and encounters with numerous bird species around his suburban Connecticut yard.
Comments