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There are three different songs here sung by a Western Meadowlark. The first repeats three times, the second song repeats 4 times, and the third song is repeated three times. This was recorded on Marble Hot Springs Road at the 2nd 90 degree turn as the Meadowlark sang from the telephone wire above. In the background you will hear cows moo and a few other birds call as well, but the Western Meadowlark is clearly the focal subject of the recording. This was recorded with a Fostex FR-2 and Sennheiser shotgun microphone, ME66.
The photo attached is a spectrogram of Western Meadowlark made in Raven Pro.
(taxonomy:binomial="Sturnella neglecta")
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Every morning when he walks the dog, retired professor of natural history Peter Slater can identify as many as thirty birds by their song alone. On a walk in a Scottish town with Ari Daniel Shapiro, Slater explains what two common songsters, the chaffinch and winter wren, are singing about, and how even city dwellers can learn to “bird by ear” in their own neighborhoods, with rewarding results.
Download a transcript of the podcast Chaffinch, Photo Credit: Blake Matheson
read moreDuration: 5:21Published: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:30:18 +0000
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A Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) sings atop a fence at a small finca (farm) near Fortuna Falls. This was the only singing red-wing that I found on the 6/98 trip. His song and calls are "thin" compared to ours in the US, but I have only this one sample to go by.
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This bird was recorded across the street from our apartment. I have not been able to actually see the bird, but for weeks I have been listening to it sing/call every morning. To be singing on our busy street (Massachusetts Ave, NE, just a few blocks from the Capitol in Washington, DC), it must be a common bird that thrives in the city, so I'd like to know this city dweller's name. I'll update this note when I learn who it is.
UPDATE: HOUSE WREN! Thank you, Mark, Perry, Martyn, Lang, Kristen, and Seth!
June 15, 2012, recorded with a Fostex FR-2, Sennheiser ME-66 Shotgun mic, Rycote windscreen. Sonnogram created using Cornell's Raven Pro Sound Analysis software.
(taxonomy:binomial="Troglodytes aedon")
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This week, we hear a story in two acts about a very familiar bird—the common starling. It's a non-native species that is omnivorous, gregarious, adaptable, and highly successful in its adopted land. It turns out we humans have inadvertently put out the welcome mat for this alien species. Act One tells the story about this winged invader with an $800 million appetite for fruit crops. As for Act Two, we’ll let independent producer Josh Kurz and the theater troupe Higher Mammals explain.
read moreDuration: 6:06Published: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:06:37 +0000
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Red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) inhabit the marshes around Peck's Lake [Arizona] along with their cousins, the Yellow-Headed Blackbirds. They have several vocalizations, three of which are represented in this sample.
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We humans learn some of our earliest life lessons from our brothers and sisters, watching what toys our siblings play with and what treats they stash away for later. In this Halloween season podcast, Ari Daniel Shapiro journeys to Austria to learn how such social learning happens in a spooky bird—the raven. Image Credit:
Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
Download a transcript of this podcast read moreDuration: 5:26Published: Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:52:05 +0000
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And here are "Four and Twenty" Blackbirds (Red-Winged) all singing at once.
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Here's that gurgling song that everyone associates with wetlands. This one is in Peck's Lake [Arizona] in mid-March, staking his claim on a prime piece of marshy real estate. Listen for his "chacks" and whistles between the loud calls.
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This unusual "piping" by a male Red-winged Blackbird was directed at an interloping male. The calls were actually about 5 seconds apart, but I took out some silence in the interest of bandwidth here. I'd not heard this call used to warn another male before, but the intruder got the point and soon left the area.
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Another group songfest - this time from a "Lek" of 25 or so Red-wings in the morning. I'm not sure this is a true Lek, but the ingredients are all there - lots of males (2/3 of those in attendance are male) singing with lots of females listening, and since it's in the Spring (2/16/99) and in the morning, it seems like Lek behavior. Note the silence midway through the sample - sudden and almost orchestrated - something distracted them for a moment.
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In this sample a young male seems to "stutter" when he calls - recorded near Pinal Air Park, southern Arizona, 4/99.
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Rufous-crowned Sparrows (Aimophila ruficeps) sing this Spring song when they're looking for love around Peck's Lake [Arizona]. This one was in the creosote scrub which grows on the steep hillsides around the lake.
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Rufous-crowned Sparrows (Aimophila ruficeps) are one of the most common sparrows in Costa Rica. They like urban and semi-rural field environments, like parks, soccer fields, etc. This song is sung over and over, and loudly!
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A Yellow-billed Cacique (Amblycercus holosericeus) calls in the early morning rain in the gallery of the Sarapiqui at El Gavilan, near Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui (Costa Rica), 11/16/98.
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The beautiful Black-throated Sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata) calls are very quiet and very high-pitched (7500+Hz), making them difficult for some observers to hear. They have two songs: one is a delightful twinkling ramble, also sung very quietly. Both the calls and the song are on this sample, recorded 1/17/99 north of Phoenix, with the Telinga mic from only 20 feet.
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The second song is the spring breeding song. This one was recorded near Sedona, Arizona, 5/22/99
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Tawny-chested Flcatchers (Aphanotriccus capitalis) are in trouble these days, and are considered threatened by most Costa Rican ornithologists. This one hangs out near La Selva (Costa Rica), where they are still relatively easy to find. Recorded 11/13/98.
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A flock of Western Scrub-Jays "Mob" something near the marsh one November day. Usually they'll mob an enemy such as an owl or snake, but I never saw what their target was this time. In the same "mob" were Song and White-crowned Sparrows (which can be heard in this sample), Flickers, Gila Woodpeckers and Abert's Towhees.
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I recorded this unusual vocalization of Western Scrub-Jays at very close range with a parabolic mic while they were feeding on freshly ripening Piñon Pine nuts, their favorite Fall treat! They will often "hover" below a pine cone and extract the nuts from below, and they gather in large numbers when an area of Piñons is ripening. This is a sound I heard several individuals make, and it's almost as if they're talking with their mouths full! (No manners, those Jays!)
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A small flock of Orange-billed Sparrows (Arremon aurantiirostris) invade the very temporary quiet at La Selva - 11/98.
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Black-striped Sparrows (Arremonops conirostris) woke us at La Fortuna (Costa Rica) in the dawn chorus, with their "bouncing ball" song. Later I found one singing in a field on the road leading to Fortuna Falls. This song's a treat!
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Black-striped Sparrows (Arremonops conirostris). Here's a longer version, including the calls that often precede their full song.
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In this recording, a pair of Black-striped Sparrows (Arremonops conirostris) talk to each other in the shrubbery outside our room at the Arenal Lodge, early morning. This is their characteristic chatter, 6/15/99.