Can you identify the songs of an American Redstart? The new book, Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist.

Bird songs are a primary element of birds that provide us with a wealth of species-specific melodies that make birds all the more attractive. Bird songs are a primary part of our concept of nature, and they filter through our days, sometimes creating a local chorus. For birders, identifying bird species by their songs and calls, and appreciating them as part of each species’ innate behavior, is part of each birder’s natural expansion of birding prowess. Learning and, in reality, memorizing bird songs is considered among the highest levels of our appreciation of birds. Even so, everyone needs a refresher each spring.

Often, after a fall and winter of little bird song activity, combined with the absence of many migrants, many of us are prone to forget a few bird songs, especially those of species that we may only hear for a week when they migrate through our area each spring. That means we need to refresh our memories – often accomplished by listening to bird songs using recordings, apps, and websites.

Imagine walking into a woodland during mid-May and being able to identify all the birds within earshot without seeing one of them. Realistically, many birders do just that. Certainly, biologists have long used this technique to ensure they document all birds in a given area. And during the World Series of Birding, the most notorious of many birding “big days” conducted across the country each spring, birding by ear is an important part of building up your day’s species total quicker.

The Helpful New Bird Song Book

The new book Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist is available just in time for what might be considered “the bird singing season.” Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist is a basic how-to guide that can help to teach anyone – from beginners to advanced birders – in understandable and appealing language.

Written by Donald Kroodsma, Professor Emeritus of Ornithology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who encourages readers to find the joy of bird songs and the curiosity to observe, listen intently, and ask questions about bird sounds they hear and study during birding outings and in your yard. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, this book is accompanied by 734 recordings and more than 75 hours of listening time on the book’s companion website at http://birdsongforthecurious.com/

ABA Podcast

To get some introductory information about his new book, you can listen to Don Kroodsma visit with the American Birding Association’s host Nate Swick on the American Birding Podcast. Last week, Nate interviewed Don about his new book, Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist – just in time for the annual explosion of birdsong across North America. You can replay the interview at https://www.aba.org/birdsong-for-the-curious-naturalist-with-don-kroodsma/

Talkin’ Birds and Bird Songs

Dr. Kroodsma was also a recent guest on Ray Brown’s Talkin’ Birds podcast on March 29, and you can listen to that interview at http://www.talkinbirds.com/archive

To order a copy of Don Kroodsma’s new book, Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist, visit Buteo Books at https://www.buteobooks.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=BBBAO&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=15025

Make this spring a time to expand your understanding and appreciation of bird songs in an effort to identify more birds in your neighborhood and in your region by learning their songs and calls. When you can identify the players in the woodland chorus, it makes the band (birds) all the more interesting – and it makes you a better birder in the process. Enjoy bird songs throughout the spring!

Share your birding experiences and photos at editorstbw2@gmail.com