What the Robin Knows: Bird Language Audio Library

Audio Tracks, Listed by Vocalization Type (this page)

The following is a listing of the audio tracks by vocalization type, so that you can compare each of the five voices across species. (Jon Young also shares more in-depth nuances of how to interpret these five voices in What the Robin Knows).

Click a link to scroll down to each section:

Songs – Typically denote a “baseline” harmony

Calls– May be used to maintain pair contact, in aggressive encounters, and other situations

Alarms– Listen for tone, frequency, and “feeling” to help separate alarm from territorial aggression or other call patterns.

You can also peruse this library by species.

Thanks to Dan Gardoqui of Lead with Nature, the audio and science editor for the book, for producing this compilation.

All recordings used with permission of Lang Elliott, NatureSound Studio in conjunction with What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, May 2012).

Songs

American Robin

1. Typical song: rhythmic, melodic phrases.

10b. Weeh: this raspy vocalization is mostly used by agitated birds as an alarm call.

White-Throated Sparrow

11. Seep and pink! : the quieter seep vocalization is used mostly as contact call; the louder pink! is primarily a general alarm call (but can be heard when going to roost as well).

American Goldfinch

12. Bay-bee: an alarm call, given by distressed birds, often at or near the nest. Also mixed in are nasally “what-the-hell” calls, also made by the goldfinches.

Black-Capped Chickadee

13. Alarm: a small flock of chickadees vocalizes in the presence of a sharp-shinned hawk. Listen for all the high-pitched see and rapid fire zap notes mixed in with chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee (up to 9 dees in this example) alarm calls.

Killdeer

14. Te-dit-dit: an alarm call given by wary birds; often head bobbing is associated with this call.

15. Deet!: an alarm call given by birds on the ground, usually near nest.

16. Aggressive trill: a sputtering alarm call given by a bird chasing predator from nest.

California Quail

17. Pit-pit-pit: an alarm call given when a predator is detected; can be mixed in with a rally call.

Northern Bobwhite Quail

18. Alarm: bobwhites use a variety of alarm calls, starting softly and increasing in frequency and intensity as a predator draws nearer.

American Crow

19a. Alarm: in this example, the crows are mobbing a human (who is making field recordings of birds).

19b. Alarm: here the crows are mobbing a red-shouldered hawk.

Blue Jay

20. Jeer: used as a contact call as well as in mobbing and other alarming situations. Gradation of calls, ability to mimic, complex vocal abilities, and large vocabulary make classification of Blue Jay calls very difficult.

Black-billed Magpie

21. Alarm: the alarm begins with owl vocalizing and bill snapping (agitation), then magpie scolding calls, more owl hoots, magpie scolds, and so on.

Chipmunk

22a. “Chip” Alarm: a repeated loud, sharp chip!-chip!-chip! warns of ground predators and other terrestrial threats.

22b. “Chuck” Alarm: a repeated low, dull cluck-cluck-cluck warns of aerial predators and other threats from the sky.

22c. Chip-trill: usually given by a chipmunk diving for cover from threat.

Red Squirrel

23. Various calls: begins with scold sequence alarm, followed by territorial chatter (also known as chatter-trill), interspersed with whining calls given in social encounters.

Eastern Gray Squirrel

24. Alarms: Harsh nasal calls used mostly as a ground alarm. High-pitched calls at end use for aerial threats

Black-tailed Prairie Dog

25. Alarm: typical high-pitched barks of agitated prairie dogs

White-tailed Deer

26. Alarm: a deer snort sequence, then snorting while bounding away.

Northern Mockingbird

27. Alarm: a mockingbird mobs a barn owl while making harsh, raspy vocalizations.

Purple Finch

28. Alarm: with a Cooper’s Hawk nearby, a purple finch belts out a very strange alarm – a vireo song.

Vocalizations List