Audio Birding

Well I have recently been getting interested in trying to ID birds using their calls.  I played golf with my friend Scott last month and he was naming birds by their calls left and right!  I am still having problems with differentiating Northern Cardinals and Carolina Wrens!  Now don't laugh there are a LOT of similarities.  What I want to do is get a setup where I can record some calls/ songs and go back to help ID them, but that is more expensive than I expected.

I did have some luck with a Northern Parula that has been in my backyard.  I just kept hearing a buzzing noise with a rising pitch and it was called by Scott when I was with him and then I heard it afterwards.  I finally tracked it down and what a nice bird it was!

Now I am trying to figure out a bird that is in the tops of the trees that originally sang the first 3 notes of the song from Close Encounters of the third kind   My call is 3 long notes that last about a second apiece the second note is higher than the first and the third note is lower than the first.  The three notes are repeated after at least 3 seconds of silence.   I do believe that this is a very common bird, I just don't remember which.  I will say that it is not on the three CDs of Peterson's Birding by Ear .  I heard it again this morning and it went back and forth between a 3 note call and a 4 note call.  Initially I thought that it might be a Carolina Chickadee or a Tufted Titmouse.  I am also thinking Northern Cardinal.  The Chickadee has too high of a whistle.  I was leaning toward Titmouse but will need to work it a little more.

I own Peterson's Birding by Ear and have ordered Peterson's More Birding by Ear.  I have also ordered a CD from Whatbird that is called Hearbirds Course  that is a course on bird ID by ear and how to draw the sounds.  Sounds like an improvement in my birding.  Too bad my memory is so bad!

1:12 PM - June 22, 2009 - post comment

learning bird calls

learning bird calls is one of those essential things you just have to do as a birder. and i find it at least a little annoying that there are people out there who just have an ear and a brain for bird calls. I had a friend once who would literally be able to remember every bird call (new or not) when out on a bird walk. I on the other hand had to battle away at it. I still do. In fact, that is why I have my ring tones as various bird calls, depending on what I want to drum in to my head next.

Good luck figuring out the three-peep call in the garden!

Dale
http://alpinebirds.blogspot.com

Dale Forbes - 2:03 AM - June 25, 2009

80% of birding .....

I was out birding with George Redmund on one of my first birding group tours (Armand Bayou), and he said that 80% of birding is bird calls. We were at the Brazos Bend State park bike riding yesterday, and heard what we thought was a Painted Bunting! Also heard alot of Vireos. That's my next project too, ID'ing bird calls.

Doug in Clear Lake City - 10:42 AM - June 28, 2009