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Birdaday Field Notes

Birding by ear reference

Bird songs for beginners

Many backyard birds are heard long before they are seen. The Cornell Lab's All About Birds says learning songs helps most when leaves are thick, birds are far off or active at night, or two species look nearly alike, and that listening lets you check every direction at once. Kenn Kaufman, field editor of Audubon, puts it simply: you do not need to learn every voice. Learning one or two well gives you something to compare the rest against.

This page collects the method both organizations recommend, 15 common backyard sounds with the memory phrases (mnemonics) their sources give, and how to use the Merlin app without letting it do all the listening for you.

Quick read

Start with birds you already know, such as the robin on your lawn (Kaufman, Audubon).

Describe what you hear: rhythm, repetition, pitch and tone (All About Birds).

Use a memory phrase, or invent your own (Kaufman).

Merlin Sound ID is free and works offline, but "is not always right." Confirm by finding the singer (Cornell Lab).

Best season: spring and early summer, the peak of birdsong in most of North America (Kaufman).

Songs vs calls

Kaufman's short definition: "a song has two main purposes: to defend a breeding territory, and to attract a mate." Songs "are often longer and more complex than calls," while calls usually accompany some other behavior. He adds that these definitions are not universally accepted.

Rosemary Mosco, writing for Audubon, gives the practical differences:

Songs Calls
Who Mostly males, mostly in breeding season Both sexes, all year
Shape Longer, with a clear pattern Short and simple, often one syllable
Learned? Learned, so they vary between individuals Basic call notes are largely instinctive
Uses Territory and mates Alarm, keeping in contact, flight calls, begging young

There are exceptions on both sides: Northern Cardinal females sing too, and the Cornell Lab says scientists have described at least 16 different cardinal calls. Mosco also lists sounds that are not vocal at all, such as a Downy Woodpecker's drumming.

How to start: six steps

  1. Pick a few birds from your own yard. Kaufman suggests choosing a few likely local species and listening to them on repeat. Cornell's Birds Near Me tool lists species likely where you live.
  2. Watch a bird while it sings. Seeing and hearing together is the most effective way to learn (All About Birds, Kaufman).
  3. Name what you hear. All About Birds suggests rhythm, repetition, pitch and tone. Mosco adds standard terms: a trill is a quick run of similar phrases, a buzz is like a trill but faster, and a sound can be rich (low and full) or thin (high and faint). Kaufman suggests counting the notes and noting whether the tune rises or falls.
  4. Attach a memory phrase. See the table below. Kaufman encourages making up your own.
  5. Look at the sound. A spectrogram is a picture of a sound's pitch, tone and volume that you can pause and replay (All About Birds). Cornell's free game Bird Song Hero teaches you to read them.
  6. Compare look-alike sounds with recordings. All About Birds names Chipping Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco and Pine Warbler as a group worth comparing side by side. The Cornell Lab's Macaulay Library and the species pages on All About Birds have recordings. Local bird clubs and walks help too.

15 backyard sounds to learn first

Descriptions and phrases are from the All About Birds species pages unless another source is named.

Bird What to listen for Memory phrase
Northern Cardinal Loud, clear, down-slurred whistles, often speeding up into a slow trill; 2 to 3 seconds; both sexes sing. Call: a loud, metallic chip cheer, cheer, cheer or birdie, birdie, birdie
American Robin About 10 clear whistles at a steady rhythm, rising and falling, then a pause; faster at dawn cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up
Black-capped Chickadee Song: a pure 2- or 3-note whistle. Call: more dee notes when the bird is more alarmed Song fee-bee or hey, sweetie; call chickadee-dee-dee
Carolina Wren Loud, quick, whistled notes that usually sound three-parted, repeated a few times; only males sing tea-kettle-tea-kettle or germany-germany
Tufted Titmouse A fast, clear whistle repeated up to 11 times in a row peter-peter-peter
White-throated Sparrow A thin whistle of about 4 seconds; notes even, shifting slightly up or down by the second or third note Oh-sweet-canada-canada or Old-Sam-Peabody-Peabody
Eastern Towhee About 1 second: a sharp, metallic first note and a musical trill at the end; sung by males drink-your-tea!; call chewink or tow-hee
Mourning Dove A soft coo-oo then two or three louder coos, mainly from unmated males; wings whistle loudly on takeoff (written as the sound)
Song Sparrow A loud, clanking song of 2 to 6 phrases: well-spaced notes ending in a buzz or trill; 2 to 4 seconds; varies across its range none given by Cornell
Red-winged Blackbird A 1-second song from males: an abrupt note turning into a musical trill. Call: a matter-of-fact check conk-la-ree!
American Goldfinch Most common call, often given in flight, with a very even cadence. Males also sing long twittering songs po-ta-to-chip
White-breasted Nuthatch Call: a loud, nasal note, often repeated, given by both sexes yank
Blue Jay A loud jeer; also frequent imitations of hawks, especially Red-shouldered Hawk jeer; Maine's guide: jay jay jay!
Eastern Phoebe A raspy, two-parted song of about half a second, sung by males fee-bee (Maine's guide notes the chickadee sounds similar)
Northern Mockingbird Long runs of phrases, each repeated 2 to 6 times before a new one, imitating other birds; both sexes sing, unmated males late into the night count the repeats
Four backyard songs drawn on one time scaleA schematic of pitch over time for four songs on a 0 to 4 second axis. 1 Red-winged Blackbird: an abrupt note then a trill, about 1 second. 2 Eastern Towhee: a sharp first note, a short middle note, and a trill, about 1 second. 3 Northern Cardinal: down-slurred whistles that get faster, ending in a slow trill, drawn at 2.5 seconds. 4 White-throated Sparrow: two even whistles, the second slightly higher, then two repeated three-note groups, about 4 seconds. 01234 s higher pitch ↑ 1234
  1. Red-winged Blackbird, conk-la-ree!: an abrupt note that turns into a musical trill, about 1 second.
  2. Eastern Towhee, drink-your-tea!: a sharp, metallic first note and a trill at the end, about 1 second.
  3. Northern Cardinal, cheer, cheer, cheer: down-slurred whistles, often speeding up and ending in a slow trill; 2 to 3 seconds (drawn at 2.5).
  4. White-throated Sparrow, Oh-sweet-canada-canada: even whistles that shift slightly in pitch by the second or third note, about 4 seconds.
Drawing: Birdaday Field Notes, following the song lengths and descriptions on the All About Birds species pages cited below. Pitch shapes are schematic, not traced from recordings. Not to scale.

When sources write the same song differently

Mnemonics are memory aids, not transcriptions, and published phrases vary. Maine's Bureau of Parks and Lands, in its beginners' bird call guide, writes several familiar songs differently from the Cornell Lab:

Bird Cornell Lab / All About Birds Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands
Northern Cardinal cheer, cheer, cheer or birdie, birdie, birdie what-cheer, what-cheer, what-cheer
American Robin cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up cheerio cheer-me-up, cheerio cheer-me-up
Black-capped Chickadee fee-bee or hey, sweetie chick-a-dee, chick-a-dee-dee-dee / feebee
Eastern Towhee drink-your-tea! drink your teeeeee, bring me some teeeeeee
Barred Owl Who cooks for you all? who cooks for you, who cooks for you all? (Kaufman: Who cooks for you)

If none of them sounds right to you, use your own. Kaufman's advice is to write the sound down, sketch it, and count the notes.

Apps and tools

Using Merlin well

  1. Hold out your phone, tap record and stay still; your own movement is loud to the microphone (eBird Help Center).
  2. If Merlin struggles, move closer without disturbing the bird and cut background noise (All About Birds).
  3. Treat each suggestion as a starting point. Compare it with Merlin's example sounds, then find the bird and watch it sing (eBird Help Center, All About Birds).
  4. Be extra careful with variable singers. All About Birds says songs that vary between individuals, such as the Baltimore Oriole's, are harder for Sound ID.
  5. Tap Save to keep a recording; Merlin does not save every one automatically (eBird Help Center).

Playing recordings outdoors

The American Birding Association's Code of Birding Ethics, as reproduced by the Cornell Lab, says to "Limit the use of recordings and other audio methods of attracting birds," particularly in heavily birded areas and for species that are rare in the area, and to be aware of rules on "the use of audio or food lures." Listen to recordings to learn; you do not need to play them at the birds.

For Bird-a-Day players

If your Bird-a-Day house rules count birds you hear, every song you learn is another species you can log on a slow day without seeing it. For telling birds apart by sight as well, see the bird ID basics.

Checklist

Sources