Hello nature fanatics,
Where are my bird lovers at? I have a little story that I know you will appreciate…
Last week a couple of my floormates and I decided that we would go on a sunrike (sunrise hike) as a pre-finals de-stressor. Don’t worry, we didn’t hike anything fancy, just the quick 30-minute walk to Gile Tower. It was a crystal clear morning and a view that I will never forget. But surprisingly, the sunrise was not my highlight of the trip.
Me featuring a beautiful sunrise
On our way back, at around 5:45 AM, our group was welcomed to the day by an overwhelming chorus of birds. The songs seemed like a melody of never repeated notes as they cascaded through the branches. Immediately, I turned on my bird-detective ears. I wanted to use the identification knowledge that I had gained over the course of the term and identify as many birds as possible (thank you nature journaling)
At first, my friends laughed at me as I paused to pull out my phone and record the calls that were echoing around us. I figured out throughout the term that recording the calls first helps me to isolate each bird’s song.
The first call that I was able to point out was a mourning dove. Although this call is one of our most familiar bird sounds, most people do not know that it comes from the Mourning Dove. Its soft, drawn out call sounds like moans or wails. Although we couldn’t see the bird from our position in the woods, we guessed that it had to be close to us based on the loudness of its call. As soon as I identified the mourning dove, the jokes from the peanut gallery stopped. My friends were begging for more.
The next bird that I identified was the Robin. This familiar, cheerful song sounds like a succession of short whistles. There were several Robin calls ringing around us and they only got louder as we made our way down the mountain. My friend Tyler asked me how I could remember these calls and I responded with “it’s like remembering the tune or beat of a song.” Identifying a bird by its call is like figuring out the title of a song from the words in its chorus. Knowing the name of a song makes listening to it even sweeter.
Finally, the last bird I pointed out to the group was a Cardinal. Its call is very loud and sounds like a string of two-parted whistles. The bird almost sounds like its saying “birdie, birdie, birdie” with each set of whistles. As we continued on our walk, we made a game out of calling out the names of each of these birds as their songs came on.
I would say that my friends were more than impressed with my identification skills. I got a lot of “Woah Jennys” and “I want to take this class” comments. So, nature lovers, embrace your knowledge and make sure to share everything you know about our world and its lovely organisms with people you enjoy. I promise it’s a good time.
Peace, Love, and Birds,
Jenny
P.S.
Here’s a link to a great website that has a ton of different bird calls from NH that I found useful if you want to get your own pair of bird-detective ears.
http://www.nhest.org/birdguid.html
P.P.S.
Check out this radical salamander we found halfway down the trail!
What a firey little dude!