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not_on_display — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:53:31 -0800

So^* you want to learn the Language of Birds? There's the mnemonic route and the youtube guide. You can listen to the birds in your local habitat or geographic area: New York State^**, Florida, Southwestern US, Tropical America^***, for example. Or, just find your favorite bird out of 104,517 audio and 33,693 video samples at Cornell's Macaulay Library, and listen. ^*From this FPP linking to an article from MIT about birdbrains and song. ^**Tony Phillips' site also has analysis of bird calls using spectrographs and musical notation, along with a mega-links page. ^***See also this FPP. Other sites of interest: • The USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center has a sampling of migratory bird calls. • eNature's bird songs page sorts by bird type, as does Naturesounds.com. • Greg Kunkel has more spectrographic analysis on his page. • Type a word in to have it translated into Nightingale. [previously] See also these FPP's and click on the tags for more birdsounds.

Practice makes perfect

troutfishing — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 10:29:53 -0800

The babbling of baby birds "Hear a baby wren and the author"s own daughter babble as each learns its local dialect. Listen to the mockingbird by night and by day and count how many different songs he can sing. Marvel at the exquisite harmony in the duet of a wood thrush as he uses his two voice boxes to accompany himself." The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong, by Donald Kroodsma, with accompanying audio CD.

MetaFilter posts tagged with birdsongs

chuck chuck chuck-it-too-ee zhew zhew!

Practice makes perfect