BIRD CALLS and SONGS

Sunday, March 1

Titmice calls

The members of Paridae have a wide range of vocalizations that often do not fall neatly into the call and song categories, perhaps more than any other family. Some of their calls are distinctive, but others are high-pitched notes that cannot be easily distinguished from those of the other birds they associate with in winter, Golden-crowned Kinglet and Brown Creeper. These calls are important to listen for when searching for warblers in the fall.

Contact calls

A pair of foraging Carolina Chickadees (Tufted Titmouse singing). The sip contact calls are mostly level and high-pitched (7-8 kHz) but are variable on the sonagram (Feb, PA)

Longer calls at 37 sec

Another example of contact calls by a single bird (Mar, PA).

si-si-si call at 2s

The call at 22s appeared to function as an alarm

Black-capped Chickadee contact calls (Sep, ME).

(Sep, ME)

The most common tip contact calls of the Tufted Titmouse may be even higher than those of the Carolina Chickadee and are descending, but there is much overlap between the two species (Feb, PA).

Rising swee calls (Jan, NJ)

Descending tsew calls similar to Field Sparrow (Dec, PA)

Tsee-tsap and other calls (Dec, PA)

Tufted Titmice on average have the highest calls among these birds. This call has a frequency of 10 kHz and is sadly inaudible to many birders(Apr, NJ)

Another commonly heard high-pitched call is this one, often repeated over and over in song-like fashion (Mar, PA).

time scale reduced

Calls by four interacting birds, including an unusual high-pitched buzz by one of them; the bird fluttered its wings when it made the call, which begins with a soft chuck (Mar, PA).

Scolding calls

Carolina Chickadee si-si-si and scolding calls (June, NJ)

The high-pitched si-si-si and chick and dee scolding calls, by a single Carolina Chickadee (Dec, PA).

si-si-si

chick and dee calls

The same three calls by Black-capped Chickadees (Feb, NY).

si-si-si calls (center)

An odd hoarse dee-dee by a Carolina Chickadee. I listened to it for a while and the dee-dees were always this version (with another "normal" sounding chickadee, Mar, PA).

Tufted Titmouse scolding calls
(Feb, PA)

(June,NJ)

Another Tufted Titmouse call, possibly a scolding call variant (May, NJ).

Boreal Chickadee scolding (July, ME)

Gargle calls

Each Carolina Chickadee has a repertoire of several gargle calls (Feb, PA).

Gargle calls appear to be learnt, and it is used here at dawn as a song rather than a call (May, PA).

Black-capped Chickadee gargle (Sep, ME).

Boreal Chickadee gargle (July, ME)

Gargle vocalizations are a good example of the difficulty in determining whether or not a sound is a call or a song. It "sounds" like a call, but in at least some situations is used as a song. Individual birds have their own repertoire of gargles, and as they are learnt, these vocalizations have characteristics more associated with song.

Other Carolina Chickadee calls

Begging calls (broken-dee, BNA) of an adult female Carolina Chickadee requesting food from a male (early May, NJ).

High-pitched series of notes (variable see, BNA), uttered between mated pairs during nest-building and pre-copulation, and usually associated with gargle calls (Apr, PA).

Wren calls

The Carolina Wren is a very vocal bird, with a number of different calls (12 listed in BNA).

This is its scolding call, with Gray Catbird calling (July, NJ)

Dit calls and faster scolding (June, PA)

Scolding by a pair of Carolina Wrens (Feb, PA).

Jeer call and dit note (June, NJ)

jeer, a male-only, learned call

dit, a female and juv male-only call (BNA)

Dit calls (June, NJ). These can sound a little like a Winter Wren, but the notes of the doublets are usually closer together, and are clearer, more ringing.

Rattle (Nov, NJ)

Faster rattle, which can sound very similar to the House Wren (Oct, NJ)

Lower churr-like alarm (Sep, NJ).

Squeaky chirp-like calls.
(Oct, PA)

(Nov, NJ)

Adult pair with similar squeaky calls near fledglings (June, PA)

Same pair but different squeaky calls by adult Carolina Wren near fledglings (June, PA)

Squeaky and scolding calls by family of Carolina Wrens (May, NJ)

Female Carolina Wrens have a chatter that often overlaps the singing male; it sounds like a call but may represent a song, as many related species in the tropics duet. Each chatter is preceded by another female-only call, nyerk.

nyerk and first few notes of chatter

time scale reduced

(Feb, NC)

Scolding calls of House Wren, a family of birds (July, NJ)

scolding call (Aug, PA)

scolding (June, PA).

Slower scolding by a House Wren (July, PA).

A doubled scold (Apr, PA)

Slow versions can sound similar to the common call of Marsh Wren (Oct, PA).

Scolding calls of House Wren (in this case more rapid) and Carolina Wren together for comparison (June, PA).

time scale reduced

"Hard" alarm calls near nest (June, NJ)

Faster alarm calls/rattle (July, NJ)

Another fast version (Apr, PA).

Mew-like alarm calls:
"skeer"(Apr, PA)

Another example of this alarm, which could be mistaken for a catbird (male, Apr, PA).

(Apr, PA)

The Winter Wren call is most often doubled or tripled, but otherwise sounds similar to the chimp call of the Song Sparrow (Feb, NJ)

This bird called only once each time(Oct, PA)

This individual, perhaps more agitated, called more rapidly at times (Dec, PA)

Song Sparrow chimp call for comparison (Aug, NJ)

This migrant Winter Wren uttered a staccato alarm call or rattle, a less commonly heard vocalization that I have heard usually at dawn (Mar, PA).

The following is a rarely heard alarm call, apparently given in high stress conditions, although I couldn't detect any obvious threats to the bird at the time (Dec, PA).

Two birds calling at daybreak (Nov, PA)

Similar call in response to a cat (Oct, PA).

(Dec,PA)

This call is very similar to common calls given by Winter Wrens in England (now Eurasian Wren, Dec, Herts).

Another version of the alarm call, heard in the background of another wren. This is a recording two Winter Wrens in England in April. The two have now been split into separate species.

Marsh Wren, three different scolding calls (May, NJ).
The first call is the one I hear from migrants in the fall.

A quiet rattle by a singing migrant (Oct, PA).

Each wren species has its own distinctive calls, but other calls are very similar to each other. For example, this call by a migrant Marsh Wren is similar to some House Wren calls (Sep, PA).