Last time I talked about some basic bird songs that people
can learn based on knowing the robin song. There are many other bird songs
characteristic of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin that don’t require knowing
the robin song as a baseline.
Most everyone recognizes Common Loon vocalizations, of not
from hearing them on northern lakes, at least from Minnesota state lottery
commercials. Loons make their long wail when calling family members toward
them.
Only male loons make the yodeling calls we hear at
night--these calls serve to declare a territorial lake and to warn other loons
away.
What sounds like the loon laugh to our ears is actually the
call loons make when they are fearful, so it’s the sound we’re most likely to
hear when we bring our canoe too close to a family. For some reason, it’s also
the call loons make in flight--perhaps they took Erica Jong’s book too much to
heart.
Many people ask me about a song they hear from their cabin
porch near sunset-- a song they describe as something like water spiraling down
a drain spout. This is the Veery, a small, secretive thrush shaped like a robin
with a rusty back and very delicate speckling on the upper breast.
The teacher teacher
teacher song of the Ovenbird is another characteristic sound of our woods.
Like the Veery, Ovenbirds are far more often heard than seen.
I think my favorite of all the sounds of the north woods is
the long, silver-threaded song of the winter Wren.
Two whistled songs catch people’s attention a lot. Most people
know the Black-capped Chickadee’s chickadee-dee-dee
call, but not so many recognize its actual song, which I transcribe as “hey,
sweetie.” In May, chickadees are doing a lot of singing, especially at dawn.
The other common whistled song follows a rhythm like “Old
Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody,” though when we travel up to Thunder Bay we
change the transcription to “Oh, sweet Canada, Canada, Canada.” That’s the
White-throated Sparrow.
When I moved up to Duluth, Northern Cardinals were rare
hotline birds. Now they nest in many neighborhoods, and we’re hearing their
rich, slurred whistles more and more.
These songs are really just a tiny portion of the great many
we can hear up here in May and June. Taking the time to listen, we learn many
more. And each one we master makes the next one easier. The north woods is
filled with auditory delights, all free for the taking.