One of the joys of spring is hearing the beautiful songs of returning migrant birds. Avianvoices are works of art thatcan help us knowwhat's around andlead us to the species we most want to see.
Learning bird songs, however, is not always easy. The typical translations we find in field guides, like the Yellow-throated Vireo’srrreeyoo, rreeoooee, are rarely useful in helping us identify songs. An easier way is to use “pictures of songs,”called audio spectrograms, which help us seethe underlying structures and qualities of a species‘calling card and come up with a more objective ID. In this article, we’ll explore five pairs of similar-sounding songs you might encounter in the yard or park, and use spectrograms to help us remember how to tease them apart. But first, a quick rundown of terms used:
Elementsare single sounds—either single pitches or one smooth, continuous change of pitch.
Phrasesare collections of elements that repeat as a group. For example, the Carolina Wren’stea-kett-le, tea-kett-le, tea-kett-leis a series of three-element phrases.
Sectionsare groups of similar elements and phrases that may be marked bya changein pitch, speed, or phrase type.Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah,uh ooh, uh ooh, uh oohis a two-section song.
Transliterationsare our attempts to translate songsinto vowels and consonants. They sometimeswork, but often only for the person who made them.
Song clips belong to the Audubon North American Birds Guide and app and were recorded by Lang Elliott, Bob McGuire, Kevin Colver, Martyn Stewart and others. Spectrograms were created by Tom Stephenson using the BirdGenie app.
American Robin vs.Rose-breasted Grosbeak
American Robins are prolific singers that can be found in a wide range of habitats, fromforests to fresh-cut lawns. But in Eastern springs they can be confused with Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, whichdescend on shared wooded habitats. Thankfully, there are two main differences in the two species‘voices.
American Robin:
Rose-breasted Grosbeak:
American Robinphrases are made up of elements with very fast pitch changes. This gives their songs a “wobbly” characteristic. Rose-breasted Grosbeakphrases also have pitch changes, but they are slower, smoother, and more evenly slurred in between.
What‘s more, American Robin phrases follow a regular rhythm. The grosbeak‘s phrases alternate between regular rhythms and irregularly placed phrases, making their songs a conductor’s worst nightmare.
Common Yellowthroat vs. Carolina Wren
Common Yellowthroats and Carolina Wrens can often be heard in spring and summer in scrubby fields, bottomlands, and forest-edge habitat in the Eastern United States. Both species‘songs have the same structure: one section, usually consisting of the repetition of a three-element phrase. The warbler’s mnemonic is wit-chi-tah, wit-chi-tah, wit-chi-tah, and the wren’s is tea-kett-le, tea-kett-le, tea-kett-le. But since one person’s witchitah can be another person’s teakettle, we need a better way of separating the two sounds.
Common Yellowthroat:
Carolina Wren:
The Common Yellowthroat‘ssong consists of slow slurs with shallow pitch changes. The Carolina Wren's song, on the other hand, contains one abrupt, accented element, giving it a strong, repeated accent thatstands outfrom the warbler‘seven and smooth performance. Listen carefully for that accented element and you’ll find thesespecies less confusing in future springs.
Bullock's Oriole vs. Hooded Oriole
The range of the Bullock’s Orioleis much larger than that of the Hooded Oriole, but they share much of the same breeding territoryacross California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Both species’ songs consist of a variety of whistles, chatter, scolding, and other raucous notes. With all of that cacophony, you can’t be sure which oriole is which.
Bullock’s Oriole song:
Hooded Oriole song:
To suss out the two species, let’s look at the rhythmic arrangement of their songs. It’s also useful to take an “inventory” of how many different kinds of buzzes, trills, scolds, and slurs each species uses. This approachof noting the number of phrase typescan be helpful when identifying other species, too.
Bullock’s songs are somewhat consistent in their form:They usually start with a rhythmic repetition of harsh calls, move into a short section of clear slurs, and end with another section of repeated phrases (often trills). Hooded Orioles have a more ecelecticstyle with seemingly random, fast changes between slurs, harsh notes, and imitated calls. Subsequent songs for the species can varyinform and phrase content. Bullock’s songs tend to remain similar throughout the session.
The orioles‘ calls, which are almost always woven into their songs, prove revealing, too. Each species has at leasttwo types: one a harsh chatter and the other aslur. The harsh calls aresimilar,but the Hooded’s is higher, faster, and often doubled. The Hooded’s slur is also higher and rising,while theBullock’s slur is rich and descending.
Bullock’s Oriole call:
Hooded Oriole call:
American Goldfinch vs. Lesser Goldfinch
The American Goldfinch shares much of its sprawling Western territory of fields, scrub, feeders, and edge habitats with theLesser Goldfinch. Females of the two species can be especially tough to identify.
As we found with the orioles, structuralarrangement and interspersed call notes are key forteasing the songs apart.
American Goldfinch song:
Lesser Goldfinch song:
American Goldfinch songsincludea ton of recycled phrases. Lessersongs also have repetitive parts, but they also wrap insingle notes picked up fromother species’ calls. This looser structure leads to a wider range of phrases andmore “jumbled” song quality.
Call-wise, both speciesembed calls within their songs. The American Goldfinch has a short, clear, falling call that's usually repeated in fast sequence. It also has a rising call that'smore drawn out and complex.
The Lesser Goldfinch'srising call is simpler, shorter, and less complex.Likewise, its falling callis a much slower slur than the American's. In addition to those two option, it has a simple, harsh chetthat might repeat.
American Goldfinch call:
Lesser Goldfinch call:
Song Sparrow vs. Bewick's Wren
Song Sparrows are master vocalists: A single male can have a repertoire of more than 10 song types. This is true across their range, which extends over much of the United States and Canada. Their musical counterparts, the once commonBewick’s Wren, overlap with them acrossthe Western and Central United States. The songs of both species include trills, buzzes, and clear notes—but their call notes are distinct.
Song Sparrow:
Bewick’sWren:
Song Sparrows usually start their songs witha pair of terse elements, separated by ajump in pitch. They have several different calls as well, but rarely include them in their songs.
Bewick’s Wrens, on the other hand, kick off their songs with a harsh, rising zweep call. Their notes are generally higher, thinner, and more nasalthan the sparrow‘sand incorporateharsh, rising buzzes. Song Sparrows buzz, too, but often at lower, steady pitches.
Overall, the wren’s song looks a lot simpler than the sparrow’swith one-element phrases compared to two or three.
One last clue: Check out the end of the spectrograms above. Both species tend to use rapid-fire elements in their encore—the Bewick’s a slow to fast trill and the Song Sparrow a characteristic buzz.
