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Counting birds has more to do with listening
February 17, 2009
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A better name for bird watching might be “bird listening.”
As about a half-dozen of us gathered around PLU assistant biology professor Julie Smith, she –and our group – listened as much as spotted local birds as they flitted around campus on this subfreezing Sunday morning this weekend.
True, we saw a flock (or technically a “murder”) of about 50 American Crows fly into some fir trees near Tingelstad Hall. But the true finds came by listening first. One heard, before one saw a flock of black capped Chickadees arguing with each other in the tree at the front of the Reike Science Center. The calls, or songs, of birds are truly one of the wonders of nature, Smith said.
Chickadees, for example, have a complex vocalization that can mean finding food for the flock, alerting the flock to danger, such as a hawk on the prowl, while the songs are used by the males in spring to warn off other males from their territories, while telling the females of their species, they are so available.
Male songbirds will go into dueling banjo mode to show the females which of them can belt it out – louder and with more sophistication than a rival. Think American Idol with feathers. In fact, a male American Robin in front of Smith was trying out its song, while hopping from one alder to the next.
“The males sort of like to try out their song before they belt it out,” she laughed.
The raspy call of the Steller’s Jay, or the twitter of chickadees were all added to the numbers, which will be funneled into an area, and then a national backyard count that wrapped up Monday.
This weekend’s count was the 12th annual (and the second one at PLU) which joined the Audubon Society and the Cornell University Ornithology Lab in collecting data to find the distribution of birds in North America. Sadly, Smith noted, the number of neo-tropical songbirds, such as warblers, has plummeted by 60 percent in North America. Audubon staff has also found, through the help of counts like these, that birds are moving further north as global warming continues.
“They looked at the Christmas bird data over the last 40 years, and found that 58 percent of the species have redistributed further north,” she said.
A recent Washington Post article also noted that the songbirds fly much further and faster than anyone had thought.
Aside from migration trends, scientists are also studying when and how birds sing. Apparently neurons in the bird’s brain actually regrow during the mating season so the male can sing his song. Birds are NOT one-note wonders. They have specific vocalizations for say a Red-tailed hawk, which generally don’t’ eat small birds, versus a Cooper’s Hawk, which does like a songbird snack once and awhile.
“They have incredibly complex vocalizations,” said Smith, who also teaches an ornithology class at PLU.
During the walk, Smith taught the group about the “chee, chee, chee” of the chickadee, the “cleeeer” call of the Northern Flicker, a species of woodpecker. And of course, the “whinny-like” call of an American Robin.
Dark eyed Juncos, Red-breasted Nuthatches and Townsend’s Warblers are also spotted during the walk. About a month ago, Smith said she found a flock of birds mobbing a barred owl, which is often a good way to find predator birds. The other birds don’t like them in their territory, so they dive bomb the hawks, eagles or owls until they leave the area, she said.
Flocks of different species intermix during the winter for survival, such as one kind of bird may be good at alerts, while another might be good at flushing out insects, she said. In the end the group spotted about 100 birds, if you count that first flock of crows that argued above our heads.
Content Development Director Barbara Clements compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact her at ext. 7427 or at clemenba@plu.edu. Photo by student photographer, Brynn Olive.
True, we saw a flock (or technically a “murder”) of about 50 American Crows fly into some fir trees near Tingelstad Hall. But the true finds came by listening first. One heard, before one saw a flock of black capped Chickadees arguing with each other in the tree at the front of the Reike Science Center. The calls, or songs, of birds are truly one of the wonders of nature, Smith said.
Chickadees, for example, have a complex vocalization that can mean finding food for the flock, alerting the flock to danger, such as a hawk on the prowl, while the songs are used by the males in spring to warn off other males from their territories, while telling the females of their species, they are so available.
Male songbirds will go into dueling banjo mode to show the females which of them can belt it out – louder and with more sophistication than a rival. Think American Idol with feathers. In fact, a male American Robin in front of Smith was trying out its song, while hopping from one alder to the next.
“The males sort of like to try out their song before they belt it out,” she laughed.
The raspy call of the Steller’s Jay, or the twitter of chickadees were all added to the numbers, which will be funneled into an area, and then a national backyard count that wrapped up Monday.
This weekend’s count was the 12th annual (and the second one at PLU) which joined the Audubon Society and the Cornell University Ornithology Lab in collecting data to find the distribution of birds in North America. Sadly, Smith noted, the number of neo-tropical songbirds, such as warblers, has plummeted by 60 percent in North America. Audubon staff has also found, through the help of counts like these, that birds are moving further north as global warming continues.
“They looked at the Christmas bird data over the last 40 years, and found that 58 percent of the species have redistributed further north,” she said.
A recent Washington Post article also noted that the songbirds fly much further and faster than anyone had thought.
Aside from migration trends, scientists are also studying when and how birds sing. Apparently neurons in the bird’s brain actually regrow during the mating season so the male can sing his song. Birds are NOT one-note wonders. They have specific vocalizations for say a Red-tailed hawk, which generally don’t’ eat small birds, versus a Cooper’s Hawk, which does like a songbird snack once and awhile.
“They have incredibly complex vocalizations,” said Smith, who also teaches an ornithology class at PLU.
During the walk, Smith taught the group about the “chee, chee, chee” of the chickadee, the “cleeeer” call of the Northern Flicker, a species of woodpecker. And of course, the “whinny-like” call of an American Robin.
Dark eyed Juncos, Red-breasted Nuthatches and Townsend’s Warblers are also spotted during the walk. About a month ago, Smith said she found a flock of birds mobbing a barred owl, which is often a good way to find predator birds. The other birds don’t like them in their territory, so they dive bomb the hawks, eagles or owls until they leave the area, she said.
Flocks of different species intermix during the winter for survival, such as one kind of bird may be good at alerts, while another might be good at flushing out insects, she said. In the end the group spotted about 100 birds, if you count that first flock of crows that argued above our heads.
Content Development Director Barbara Clements compiled this report. Comments, questions, ideas? Please contact her at ext. 7427 or at clemenba@plu.edu. Photo by student photographer, Brynn Olive.