Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Bird Chirping

I woke up two days ago to a strange sound. At first, I thought it was just the radiator, which usually makes fizzing and hissing and cranking and burbling noises. (I do note the first coming on of the radiator in my old (1905) apartment building. Apparently it is not turned on by a human hand but related to some complicated measuring of temperature, which makes it a true phenological sign. It first came on September 19 last year; it would be harder to measure when it goes off, since one is never quite certain, until some time has passed what was the last day it was on.)

But no, this sound was not the radiator. It took me a while before I recognized it: a bird chirping. Sweet and low, quiet but cheerful. Have no idea what kind of bird it was but I realized that I haven't heard that sound for quite a while. Spring is here!

5 comments:

Glas said...

Waverly, I heard it, too. (I'm in Redmond.) Mine sounded like a robin! and then there was a chickadee sound, too. The spring sounds, not the average everyday sounds. Spring!

Waverly Fitzgerald said...

Beth,

I'm glad you heard the birds too.
Now that I heard that first bird, I hear them all the time. Not sure what's what, or who's who. I feel like I'm walking through a mysterious landscape, full of invisible lyrical beings who are all communicating with each other around me.

Waverly Fitzgerald said...

Beth--
I see you're reporting your robin sightings to Journey North. How cool! I think I will jump in too. I'm also signing up for Project Budburst.

Anonymous said...

Waverly, I've recently started getting your newsletter, and I love it. I just started hearing the birds last week. This morning, I decided to start a phenology journal. I was wondering if you had any resources for figuring out what bird makes what sound? I keep hearing a bird call I've known since childhood, but I don't know what bird makes it- it's like a loud, "TUIT TUIT TUIT"- and that's just the beginning- I want to know how to learn the calls for all the birds!

Waverly Fitzgerald said...

I did a quick Google search on "tuit tuit tuit bird song" and my guess is that your bird is a nuthatch.

I also did a quick search for web sites with recordings of bird songs and found this one:
http://www.naturesongs.com/birds.html

Hope it helps