The birds are singing, but what are they saying and which song belongs to which bird? These online activities will help you to demystify bird songs.

Lesson 1: What are birds saying?

Activity: Table Talk

Activity: Bird Song Meditation

Activity: Describe That Sound

Lesson 2: Seeing Bird Song

Activity: Get to know Spectrograms

Activity: Match the Song to the Spectrogram

Application: Spectrograms at Work

Extension Activity: East vs West Coast Birds

Extension Activity: DIY (Draw it Yourself)

Lesson 3: Bird mnemonics

Activity: Get to know Mnemonics

Activity: Mnemonics Listen and Share

Extension Activity: Mnemonic Data

Just like us, birds make many sounds and communicate many things through those sounds! Some of these sounds are easy to recognize. Take, for example, the flowery melodies of songbirds, or the call of a gull flying overheard, or the famous scream of a Red-tailed Hawk (often played in movies, but as the call of the Bald Eagle). Some are sounds you may have never heard before! And many are sounds you may not have known what they meant. In this lesson, you will learn more about the sounds bird make, the messages they are sharing, and practice skills that will help you to listen to birds.

What are birds saying?

Birds of all kinds have an incredible range in the types, pitches, volume, and tone of sounds they make. The songbirds are especially known for their vocal ability; these, for the most part, are the birds that sing. Birds that are not songbirds, like falcons, shorebirds, ducks, for example, may not sing but do have sounds that used for to say specific things.

SONGS

Songbirds, cuckoos, owls, nightjars…these are all types of birds that sing! Their songs are for marking territory and finding a mate. This is kind of like saying to competing birds, “This place is my home (stay away).” And to mates, “Come on over!” In most species, the males sing, but there are some in which females sing, too. Birds learn how to sing by hearing the songs of others in their species. They then, make their own unique version of a song!

CALLS

Calls may sound like a simple chirp, but calls can say lots of things! Birds use calls to check in with each other, let each other know there is danger nearby, and signal to each other when food is needed! Both male and female birds make these call notes. Birds are born knowing how to call.

“Woohoo, where are you?” A single note can tell another bird of the same species where they are. This is heard in flight, especially when birds fly together to travel long distances, like in migration.

“Shhh…there’s a predator overhead!” Listen for the high-pitched, quiet call. This is used to warn other birds of a predator flying by. Birds will then wait, in hiding, for the danger to pass.

“Chase that predator away!” If the danger is imminent, birds at risk will make a loud call to action: get together and “mob” the predator. The birds work together to chase the predator away!

“I’m hungry, bring me food!” This is a begging call of a young chickadee looking for food from its parents. When outside in the mid- to late- spring, see if you can hear these calls!

Birds converse with each other throughout the day to say and share messages! In this activity, we will challenge you to communicate with another person using bird sounds. This is a chance to get a little silly, while learning the difference in nuances between different chirps, and songs. You can do this activity with one other person, or more, and with your family, friends, or room mates.

Instructions:

1. Together, make up a bird and decide what the following sounds from this bird will sound like. You can choose whatever sounds you would like to.

   • Song

   • Contact Call

   • Alert Call

   • Mob Call

   • Begging Call

2. Practice each sound until you feel comfortable proceeding to Step 3.

3. Attempt a conversation, using these calls! For families, this is a fun exercise to do while preparing a snack. For room mates and friends, try this out while doing a simple activity together, or on a video call.

Bonus Challenge - Try this activity again, but instead of making up a bird, decide on a bird you would like to study. Then, look up this bird on allaboutbirds.org. On the profile for your bird, select “Sounds” on the top right of the page.

Science Application - With a strong understanding of the sounds birds make, ornithologists, scientists that study birds, can pick out which birds are communicating and make educated guesses on what is being communicated. For example, if an ornithologist hears a chickadee gives its alarm call, they may begin searching the sky and tree tops for a falcon, hawk, owl, or another predator!

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Bird songs are a part of the melody of our daily lives. People across the continent recognize the sweet song of the American Robin as the announcement of spring; the croaking of crows and ravens are ubiquitous where people live; while the coo of doves can be heard through the still morning air in cities and countrysides alike. These sounds make up a part of the daily noise our ears and brain perceive each day.

This exercise will invite you to notice bird sounds as distinct from the daily sounds around you. This practice of noticing is a key step to starting your journey with demystifying bird language!

Instructions:

1. Find a comfortable position. Maybe you will be sitting, maybe you will lay down. Anything that works for you, works for this exercise.

2. Once you are ready, hit play on the audio recording below. This recording will take you through a 7-minute meditation.

   • This meditation is available in English and in Spanish. Select the language you feel most comfortable with.

3. Then, answer the questions below the recording. Entering your responses is entirely optional; the key is to work through the questions yourself. Whether you decide to share or not is up to you!

As you’re starting off birding, it helps to pick a few birds to focus on, listen to their songs, and find your own words to describe what it sounds like. To do this, birders will also use mnemonics, a pattern of words that helps a bird song stick to memory! You will learn more about this in Lesson #3.

For now, you will:

1. Listen to each song or call. We selected birds that are readily found in Salt Lake City and are very distinct to each bird.

2. Then, find your own words to describe what the bird sounds like to you.

Here is an example:

Now, you try! There are no right or wrong answers here. This is all about how you hear and interpret the sound. Write your responses on some scratch paper, or share your thoughts with us in the entry box for each bird.

Bonus Challenge: One of the birds above is a female bird! You can tell because of a difference in the color of its feathers on its belly. Can you find out which one it is? Go to https://www.allaboutbirds.org and search for each bird. Go to the “ID Info” tab to compare male and female birds for each species.

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1. Watch the Bird Song Hero Tutorial video from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (below).

2. Try to match the bird song to the spectrogram (below).

3. Scroll down for the answers.

Video duration: 1 min, 43 sec. Watch on Youtube here.

Adapted from Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Bird Song Hero

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Scroll down through each bird to listen to their song. Then, enter the spectrogram that you believe matches the song. Here are some hints:

Learn more about Mourning Dove here

Birding Tip for Mourning Dove in SLC: “As you get further away from people, you’re more likely to hear my mournful cooing! A good place to spot me are foothills of the mountains and parks along the Jordan River Trail that have fewer people, like James Madison Park. This just happens to be where the Jordan River Nature Center is.You can spot me by paying this park a visit!”

Have you seen this bird? Tell us about where and when you see it on Facebook!

Learn more about Eurasian Collared-Dove here

Birding Tip for Eurasian Collared-Dove in SLC: “Wherever people are, you can find me, too! I tend to perch out in the open on telephone and electric wires and the tip tops of trees. To tell me apart from the Mourning Dove, look for my ‘collar’ (a black stripe on the back and side of my neck) and the white tail feathers, seen in flight! A good place to spot me is from the parking lot in front of Tracy Aviary’s Gift Shop, in Liberty Park.”

Have you seen this bird? Tell us about where and when you see it on Facebook!

Learn more about Bullock’s Oriole here

Birding Tip for Bullock’s Oriole in SLC: “I look for habitats with water and forest edges. The Jordan River Parkway Trail is great for me, because there are trees lining a river and open meadows close by! I’m also a master weaver and make unique, tear-dropped nests that hang from tree branches. Next time you’re on the trail, look up into the tip-top of the trees and look for these nests!

Have you seen this bird? Tell us about where and when you see it on Facebook!

Learn more about Yellow Warbler here

Birding Tip for Yellow Warbler in SLC: “I look for habitats next to water. In Salt Lake, you can find me in willow bushes and in trees along the Jordan River Parkway Trail and in the island of Liberty Park Pond! I hop about in the branches of trees, too. Look for a flash of yellow, moving quickly from branch to branch, and tends to stay in the middle height of the tree.”

Have you seen this bird? Tell us about when and where you see it on Facebook!

Learn more about Western Tanager here

Birding Tip for Western Tanager in SLC: “Each spring, I migrate into Salt Lake City from Mexico and Central America into the wooded canyons surrounding the city! A great spot to see me is from the parking lot for the City Creek Canyon Trail or from the trail itself. Take the trail, and then scan the canopy of the trees opposite of the trail for a flash of yellow and red! I stand out against the dense, green leaves of the trees.

Have you seen this bird? Tell us about when and where you see it on Facebook!

How do spectrograms work in the real bird world? Join Feminist Bird Club (FBC) in this virtual birding experience!

Check out this video on how spectrograms work and how birders use them to figure out…who the heck is singing?! This video is posted with permission from the FBC-San Francisco Bay Area Chapter.

About Feminist Bird Club: Feminist Bird Club is a bird watching club 🦆 for LGBTQ+ folks, women, and BIPOC with chapters in New York, Boston, Chicago, SBA, Toronto, Seattle, Madison, San Francisco, and the Netherlands. Sister clubs are found in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Mérida. Follow for online events, stories, and tips. IG: @feministbirdclub

Can’t get enough of spectrograms? Keep quizzing yourself with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Bird Song Hero Spectrogram Quiz. Please note, because Cornell is in Ithaca, NY, this video features birds found east of the Rockies.

Bonus challenge: Many of the eastern birds are similar to species in the western United States. Take the Bird Song Hero Spectrogram quiz, then use the links below to see similar species, found in Salt Lake, and compare their songs.

East Coast

• Eastern Meadowlark —>

• Carolina Chickadee —>

• Wood Thrush —>

• Eastern Wood-pewee —>

• Carolina Wren —>

• Northern Cardinal —>

Salt Lake

• Western Meadowlark

• Black-capped Chickadee

• Swainson’s Thrush

• Western Wood-pewee

• Canyon Wren

• Western Tanager

Try visualizing bird song on your own by listening to a song, and then drawing what you think the spectrogram would look like.

Instructions: For this activity, you will need a pencil and a piece of paper.

1. Draw a line down the middle of the page. Then, in rows, draw rectangular boxes on each side of the page. These will be your spectrograms for each bird.

2. Label the column on left “My Spectrogram” and the column on the right “The Bird’s Spectrogram.”

3. Label each row by the bird (listed below). Your page should look like this:

4. Listen to each track, and draw in the rectangles in the left column labeled “My Spectrogram.” This will be what you think the spectrogram would look like. Count the notes, and makes the lines thicker where you think the bird is singing loudest.

5. Then, click the link “This Bird’s Spectrogram” to see what their spectrogram actually looks like. Draw this image into the rectangles on the right labeled “The Bird’s Spectrogram.”

6. Compare and contrast: How did you do? Take notes in each row!

Mnemon-what?! Everybody loves a gimmick! So why not try one when learning bird songs? Birders use catch-phrases to memorize the rhythm, quality, pitch and tempo of bird songs. These patterns of words or phrases are called mnemonics!

Mnemonics are cultural! The cool thing about mnemonics is that there are phrases unique to each language! The mnemonics selected here are largely in English. Birders in different countries use different catch phrases to help memorize the sounds of their local birds. The mnemonic for the same bird can also vary from region to region, even within the same country!

In this lesson, you will: Learn a few common mnemonics in the United States for birds heard in the Salt Lake area, while trying to create some mnemonics of your own. Then, you will be encouraged to look for bird by using mnemonics!

1. Listen to each recording of a bird song (below) and mouth the mnemonic out loud as the bird is singing. See if you can match the words of the mnemonic with with the notes in the bird’s song.

2. Count the syllables in the bird’s song. Enter that answer.

   • Teaching Tip for Kids (9 or under): Teach your children about syllables by having them clap to each one! Use a word they are familiar with first, like “giraffe” or their own name. Here’s a lesson to use. Then, work up to trying out the words in the mnemonics below.

3. Make your own mnemonic, and repeat step 1!

   • By entering your mnemonic, you are giving Tracy Aviary permission to share your entry on our social media accounts. We do not ask you for, nor will we post, personally identifiable information in these forms.

Black-capped Chickadee

Carbonero Cabecinegro

Listen to more sounds of the Black-Capped Chickadee here.

Mnemonic birders use: Hot dog! Cheeseburger!

Tips: Chickadees have parts to their song. See if you can hear these two pieces in the recording. Below, consider: how many syllables are in “hot dog?” How many syllables are in “cheeseburger?”

Try your own mnemonic!

Pick words that match the syllable counts you listed above. They can be words of objects, people, sounds, or anything you would like! Choose any language you would like, as well. The goal is to pick something that makes sense to you! Here is an example for the chickadee, using the word for cookie in Spanish (galleta):

Example mnemonic: Cookie! Galleta!

Yellow Warbler

Reinita de manglar

Listen to more sounds from the Yellow Warbler here.

Mnemonic birders use: Sweet, sweet, I’m so sweet!

Tips: Yellow warblers sing loud and proud throughout the whole spring! Once you pin this song down, you won’t miss it. Below, consider: how many syllables are in this complete phrase?

Killdeer

Chorlitejo Culirrojo

Listen to more sounds from the Killdeer here.

Mnemonic birders use: Killdeer!

Tips: While this bird does not sing, it does something really useful: it calls out its own name! Below, consider: how many syllables are in this bird’s call?

Mnemonic birders use: Drink your tea!

Fun fact: This mnemonic translates into Spanish directly as, “Toma té!”

Tips: Below, consider: how many syllables are in this bird’s song? Bonus challenge: Listen to the song of its eastern cousin, the Eastern Towhee, and compare what you hear.

More Mnemonics: Did you enjoy this activity? Use these resources to learn more mnemonics of common birds in the United States!

Mnemonic Cartoons Western Birds Eastern Birds

Put your mnemonic practice to work by applying the gimmick to pick out the bird in the wild! In this exercise, “wild” is loosely applied to anywhere you can hear birds sing and call. This exercise can be done by sitting at a window, patio, or yard; in your neighborhood; by visiting a park; hanging out alongside a stream; on a trail; at the pool; or anywhere with access to sounds outside that is comfortable to you.

Instructions:

1. Focus on 1-3 common birds in your area. You may select the birds highlighted in the “Get to Know Mnemonics” exercise above, or select birds from a local bird list.

   • Common Birds:

     • Common Backyard Birds of Salt Lake

     • Common Backyard Birds - East Coast & Midwest

   • Teaching Tip for Kids (9 or under): Work with one bird at a time. Start with a bird you and your child are most interested in, go through steps 1-5, then repeat with another bird.

2. Use the steps in the “Get to Know Mnemonics” exercise to study the mnemonic for the bird[s] you chose.

   • Tip: You may use the standard mnemonic, or come up with your own!

   • Teaching Tip for Kids (9 or under): Clap the syllables with your child. Sing the melody of the song while counting the syllables. Then, do a sing-along of the mnemonic with the melody, while clapping the syllables.

3. Choose a space that is most comfortable for you to listen for bird songs and calls. This can be a window or a location outside.

4. Listen!

   • Tip: Have patience. It may take a little bit to a) pick the sounds of bird songs and calls apart from the noise of your surroundings and b) to hear the bird you are listening for!

5. Once you hear something that reminds you of your mnemonic, start to sing along using your catch phrase or gimmick.

   • If 15-20 minutes go by, and you are not hearing the bird you chose, repeat steps 1-5 with another common bird. Also, read through the next activity, “Mnemonic Data” to learn a frustrating, but golden rule in birding when it comes to science: no data is still good data.

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Don’t get discouraged if you don’t hear your bird mnemonic! A part of the joy of birding is the frustration of not finding what you’re looking for. When you do, it just makes the discovery that much sweeter! It also can tell you that the bird you are looking for doesn’t live in the place you are listening in.

Scientists will revisit the same place over and over again to listen and look for birds. When they do this, they take notes on what they hear and see. By noting what they find, they can start to see patterns of where certain birds are, and certain birds are not.

You, too, can do science! Be a backyard scientist by applying your mnemonics to write what you notice. This is an introductory exercise to one way ornithologists study birds.

1. Choose a space that is most comfortable for you to listen for bird songs and calls. This can be a window or a location outside.

2. Find a place where you can take notes. This can be your cell phone, a journal, or a notepad.

3. Visit the space on different days. Take your cell phone, journal, or notepad with you. Take notes on:

   • The date and time you begin listening

   • The birds you are listening for. Use the mnemonics you are studying and focus on those birds. Then, tally how many times you hear (and see) each one!

4. Once you have three visits done, start to see if you can find any patterns! Here are some questions to start asking yourself:

   • Are there any birds that I hear a lot of in this space?

   • Do I notice if I tend to hear or see them in a certain part of the space?

   • Are there any birds that I do not hear or see in this space?

   • Why are the birds there, or why are they not there?