Bird Language

A Bird to Know: The Song Sparrow

The Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia, is a great companion to have at your sit spot.

These active songsters are found in many places across the United States, from back yards to meadows, favoring thickets and hedgerows. The sparrow’s triangular beak points towards a steady diet of seeds (though a variety of insects are eaten during breeding season). The breast is heavily streaked with a dark central spot.

This is a bird that loves to stay close to the ground to feed and nest, and because of this, the song sparrow has a lot to say about ground-level potential dangers. Cats, foxes, and other ground predators all elicit responses from this observant sparrow. The males maintain a regular series of prominent song perches during breeding season, five to ten feet above the ground.

The song is often rendered as “Maids, maids, put on your tea-kettle-ettle-ettle.” Lang Elliot’s MusicOfNature.org site offers a wonderful video portrait of the song sparrow:

Because the song sparrow is so common and accessible, this bird offers a great chance to get to know one species, and one individual, very well.

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Causes of Bird Language in Action: Owls by Day

When learning bird language, it’s helpful to know who the natural predators in your bioregion are.

Who are the songbirds concerned about right now, in this season? Each predator poses a different level of threat, and brings a unique hunting strategy into the mix. Each predator therefore has a unique “alarm signature” response.

What avian predators are active in your area? This great video by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology looks at the Screech owl, and even has a nice section with chickadee alarms that help the researcher to locate the owl by day in its roost.

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Relationship is Key to Understanding Deep Bird Language. . .

December 19, 2011

One of the keys to learning bird language is to get familiar with the birds of your area. Get to know the birds not just as a species (“look, a Robin!”), but as individuals (“hey, it’s Sally the Robin, the one that is nesting in the hemlock tree in the back yard. . .”). Through [...]

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A Language of Intent

March 22, 2011

When we practice the art of interpreting bird language, the sounds we hear and the feelings they generate within us can impart a lot of meaning. A parent robin that is noisily alarming in the presence of a cat that is approaching a grounded fledgling has a much different sound and feeling than a robin [...]

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Listen to stories about bird language

March 21, 2011

On March 12, 2011 I hosted a free call about learning deep bird language. Here is a link to part 1 of the recording on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF9OVJqvakY

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Where is the Leopard? And Other Mysteries…

December 22, 2010

Here’s an awesome example of how far you can take the skills of interpreting bird and mammal language. This podcast from the Radiolab blog, called “Wild Talk”, has examples from both the prairie and the jungle of animal communication. Those familiar with Jim Corbett’s stories of tracking the movements of leopards by the monkey vocalizations [...]

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The Return to Baseline

July 19, 2010

When you go out to your secret spot, which are the bravest birds, and how do you know? Well you know the bravest birds because they’re the ones who either a) don’t fly away from you, or b) they’re the first ones that come back after you’ve sat down next to your tree. Are all [...]

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