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How many bird's songs do you know? (1 Viewer)

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Debbie1905

Well-known member
Hi, as a relatively new birder (started last year) and not having the best hearing, I have really struggled to learn bird songs/calls. I can usually pick out a robin, blackbird, great tit, sparrow, greenfinch and sometimes get chaffinch right. Of course, I can tell GSW, and am sure I'd know a cuckoo if I ever came across one...
But reading some peoples foreign trip reports, I am absolutely amazed by the number of 'heard only' records of birds they report - how do they do it? If I'm struggling to learn a dozen, how do you learn (presumably quite quickly) 'foreign' birds before a trip? I know some people have brilliant hearing/memory skills, but are there any tricks to learning more?

(A very impressed) Debbie
 
For foreign trips, it is basically: listen to recordings, over and over... and listen to the target birds even more often. Especially for South America, it's a nightmare!
It can help to write down how the birds sound to you.
 
I don't think there is any "magic" involved, it just boils down to hard work and commitment .... and listening to numerous recordings. Remember that many birds are heard long before they are seen so getting a knowledge of their calls makes identification easier. It is also is good idea to check out any prospective trip, even locally in the UK, to find out what has been seen recently and what could be expected. This can give you a head start in identifying something when you see or hear it.


Shane
 
As mentioned above. My hearing is pretty good - I seem able to pick out calls before my companions, but recognising them is something else ! I seem to have a very short-term memory, I learn some calls before every trip (and have a small database in my brain for local birds) but then promptly forget all but the most memorable soon after :(
 
For call/song recognition, the younger you start...the easier it comes, perhaps a bit like learning a foreign language. I can remember moving from Inner London to ''the sticks'' at the age of 10, and within a year or two, became familiar with all the regular species.

Cheers
 
Get yourself a decent cd of bird songs / calls and listen to it often. I am going to refresh myself for the warblers by playing Geoff Samples CDs on my commute for the next few weeks. It is amazing how much sticks when you do that. If you are lucky enough to have a more experienced birder friend then going out with them and asking questions and listening will pay dividends.
 
It's always think that, where possible, watching a video of a singing bird is much better than just listening to the song on a CD as you have a constant visual reminder of what it is you're listening to. Although many DVDs of birds do show them in song, it's a pity they don't do it systematically. It also helps to write down your ownimpressions/renditions/shorthand of the song - for example just the word "lulu" reminds me of the Woodlark's song.
 
John, would you have any particular video that you would recommend? Having always had trouble with my ears, I have tended to ignore sounds (e.g. my husband can't believe that I never take notice of the sound track music in films, but I really don't notice it at all). I bought a CD of bird song, which is recorded in the woods, but found all the different sounds too distracting to concentrate. Have been trying to learn from an app on my phone, but just can't make them stick.
 
I totally agree with John. If you can link the song to a bird you can see singing it seems to sink in better. In my case, Grasshopper Warbler and Goldcrest are totally mute, until I see one singing / calling, then it's as clear as a bell. I also agree with making up your own transliteration of song, i.e. "Little bit of bread and noooo cheeeese' for Yellowhammer or, for Nth. Americans, "Sweet, sweet Canada" for White-throated Sparrow. Neither species 'says' that, but the rhythm and general idea is there.
 
chris butterworth said:
I also agree with making up your own transliteration of song, i.e. "Little bit of bread and noooo cheeeese'.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. In fact, the yellowhammer I would say is proabably the first bird I could definitively identify by song exactly because of this phrase! My girls are six, and I've managed to get them to recognise several birds from their call... because they say their own name (Chiffchaff, Kittiwake, Cuckoo... and when we're in Spain, hoopoe!).

Having said that, I'm still rubbish, and still need a lot more work on bird songs and calls (flying finches silhouetted against the sky for example).
 
Thanks everyone, am giving all ideas a try. Meanwhile, with regard to the title of the thread, out of interest, how many bird songs do you know by heart? Once you learn them, do you remember them even without hearing them for a long time? is it like when you learn French at school and then ten years later you can't remember a word?
Or do they stay with you?
 
I consider myself a relatively inexperienced birder (otherwise I would have to just admit I'm rubbish), and I would say I can categorically identify around 30-40 species on call. Then there are perhaps another 10-15 I think I can identify on call, but need a visual to really confirm I have got it right, and another handful that I always get mixed up and can narrow down to 2 or 3 species.

But usually it's a combination of expectation and recognition, so stick me in (say) Turkey and play (say) a coal tit call, and I couldn't be absolutely certain that it couldn't be something else, whereas when I hear a coal tit in my garden, I know it's a coal tit.

I spend a lot of time on xeno-canto.org comparing similar songs and still can't always tell the difference once I'm "out there".
 
Debbie1905 said:
Thanks everyone, am giving all ideas a try. Meanwhile, with regard to the title of the thread, out of interest, how many bird songs do you know by heart? Once you learn them, do you remember them even without hearing them for a long time? is it like when you learn French at school and then ten years later you can't remember a word?
Or do they stay with you?
Click to expand...
I have to re-learn Robin song every spring, and sometimes every day (that is, once I see a singing Robin I remember it for the day; fortunately I tend to visit 10-12 sites every day so I have plenty Robins). The best I came to describing a Robin song to myself is "Blackcap that finally got its paycheck" (so it is now joyful) as Blackcap seems to grumble and complain for hours like an aunt talking to your mother o:D

Chaffinch was difficult to describe to myself, too. "Sings backwards (starts with the end of song) " does the trick perfectly; I never confuse them with anything else now.

Great Tit is easy in my first language: ptice-ptice (birds-birds :eek!: ), preci-preci (ancestors-ancestors), cici-u. Nightingale is easy as it has the prolonged "tee-tee-tee". Nuthatch has "tchooey" (listen) and sisisi. Collared Dove has "ee-ee!", Magpies chatters, Green Woodpecker has a shrill laughter, Great Spotted Woodpecker has a hard tchok and Syrian is "hmm... that's not quite GS, it is softer, let me check". I cannot tell House and Tree Sparrows from each other by chirping.
 
I think listening to recordings is very useful but nothing beats time spent in the field listening to birds themselves - I know that I remember the song better when I hear unknown song in field and then try to spot the singer. So just try spending as much as time as possible in the field studying birds and by each day/month you will be able to recognize more and more bird songs :)
I also find useful to describe to myself new songs using already known songs as a template. For example Willow Warbler can be loosely interpreted as a Chaffinch who runs out of air while singing. Or use some interesting analogies that stick in your mind (not necessarily those which are written in books - you can think of your own analogies).
And don't rush - trying to learn too many songs at once can be too overwhelming. Take your time and after some ~5 years you most probably will know close to all songs of resident birds.
 
I can honestly say that I can recognize the calls of around 600 species (nearly all British birds; nearly all Aussie Wet Tropics species, and a fair sprinkling from around the world.

I don't know if there's a secret to it, I just seem to be able to remember them. My eyesight is lousy, and I knew early on that I had to rely on my ears. I spent a lot of time in the field learning them though. As others have said, if you can see the actual bird calling, that is a very useful aide memoir.

I have a good musical ear and find language learning often fairly easy, so maybe there's a connection...

EDIT: I might add there's nothing exceptional in this. I certainly know bird guides who know a great deal more.
 
Last edited:
CerambyX said:
I think listening to recordings is very useful but nothing beats time spent in the field listening to birds themselves - .
Click to expand...

Agree with this. Exposure and concentration. Especially because bird noises are so variable within most species that a lot of it's down to 'feel' of the sound rather than the 'tune', and you can only really get a proper handle on this when you hear them in real life. And always remember that in some cases you could be wrong, and it's just a bird vocalising abnormally!

I find for me, when I go to an unfamiliar country, that it seems impossibly overwhelming to start with, with all the new sounds, but once some of them fall into place others can follow surprisingly quickly, and some will 'stick', while others won't. It's also the case that the more different ones that 'stick' the more reference points you have to file them under. So you can end up thinking things like: "Ah... that's that tanager that sounds like a quiet doubled Great Spotted Woodpecker" or whatever.
 
Debbie1905 said:
Thanks everyone, am giving all ideas a try. Meanwhile, with regard to the title of the thread, out of interest, how many bird songs do you know by heart? Once you learn them, do you remember them even without hearing them for a long time? is it like when you learn French at school and then ten years later you can't remember a word?
Or do they stay with you?
Click to expand...

Couldn't count them in my case - hundreds. Most North American species plus hundreds of Amazonian species (where I've spent a good deal of time), and a smattering from other countries I've visited. They stay with me for years at least, and once learned, refreshing comes pretty quickly. Even so, I struggle to learn unfamiliar songs before a trip by studying a CD - learning one or two new songs is pretty easy, but if I try to learn scores of them at once they all just bleed together. So maybe one suggestion is just to tackle a few at a time. I also think the suggestion of watching videos of songs is great, and one that I will try to implement where such is available.
 
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