Some people think this bird is singing Oh Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada which is where they breed almost exclusively. This is a familiar singing sparrow whose white throat and yellow patches in front of his eyes are his distinguishing features.
Found in backyards across the US and Canada, this songbird has a delightful and unique song. This mostly monogamous sparrow has a mating ritual where the male pounces near the female to get her attention. While they can live to over 11 years, most wild sparrows do not see even their first birthday. But, those song sparrows who do live through the winter, continue to delight us year after year with their beautiful songs. Capture the song sparrow's tune as a ringtone for your cellphone.
If you see this gorgeous black and white bird with a scarlet chest at your feeder, it's a Rose-breasted grosbeak. You may first know he is around by his equally beautiful song. These birds arrive in late Spring from Central and South America, and some continue migrating through the US into northern Canada to nest. These birds are named for their thick ("gros" in French) beaks which can handle seeds, insects and fruit. They are often found in wooded areas and if you are lucky enough to have one of these birds at your feeder, keep it stocked with sunflower seeds and raw peanuts if you want them to stick around. Their lovely song is similar to a Robin's lilting sound, but considered to be even more sweet and beautiful.
This vocal songbird is notable for the male's bright red epaulettes and distinctive song. Found liberally throughout the US in marshy and agricultural areas, the flashy males are polygamous and may have many females with nests throughout their territory. But, not all the chicks from these females are his - many are by males from adjacent territories! Get the red-winged blackbird ringtone for your cellphone.
This cheerful bright red bird is the state bird in 7 US states: IL, IN, KY, NC, OH, VA, WV. It is a beautiful and common feeder bird which has extended its range north in the last hundred years. And not just the males sing - females sometimes sing from the nest! Are they giving their mate their dinner order? This ringtone is the familiar melodious cardinal song.
The soulful cooing of the mourning dove is a familiar sound through the US, Canada and into Mexico. Their nests are generally poorly constructed, and it often a wonder their eggs hatch at all! The male stands on the female's back and gives her nest materials which some say accounts for the untidy look of the nest. When these doves fly, their wings make a whistling noise. This cooing morning dove ringtone is a familiar sound.
House Wrens are plain brown birds with a bubbly, beautiful song. They will readily nest in a nest box, but you can find them all sorts of other strange places. House Wrens will build a nest in rubber tires, Christmas wreaths and even old boots.
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Originally a native of the American Southwest, wild caught House Finches were caged and illegally sold as "Hollywood Finches" to the early 20th Century pet trade. When a few were set loose in the East in the early 1940's, they did extremely well. And now the lovely song of this little "exotic species" is one of the harbingers of Springtime throughout the US. Recognized by his bright red head and irrepressible desire to sing during breeding season, the highly adaptable House Finch is now found on feeders and in urban areas around the country.
What this plain brown bird with a spotted breast lacks in flashy looks, he makes up for with a haunting and ethereal song. Found across North America in a wide variety of habitats, Hermit Thrushes breed in Canada and the western US, and overwinter in the US and Mexico. Depending on where they live, these birds might build their tidy round nests lined with catkins or other soft materials on the ground or in shrubs. And aren’t we lucky to have insectivores like these thrushes who feast on insects like beetles, spiders, wasps and flies! Always a welcome visitor, Hermit Thrushes might visit your backyard, but it won’t be at your feeder. They are looking for insects and berries, so planting native plants that offer fruits to these migrating birds will help attract them to your yard, and you may hear this beautiful song.
If you hear "drink your teeeeaaa" coming from a field edge or a scrubby area, you are hearing the call of one of North America's largest and most beautiful sparrows. The Eastern towhee doent look at all like a sparrow - colorful and plump - but they exhibit sparrow behavior like scratching on the ground in leaf litter for fruits, nuts and insects. If you live in the Eastern US, when its warm you may find an Eastern towhee coming out of the dense brush to get to the cracked corn at your feeder.
It's very difficult to keep these little wrens quiet! Unlike other wrens, Carolina Wrens like to sing very loudly, and they sing a lot -- one captive male sang 3000 times in one day! They spend the majority of their time hopping very quickly on the ground
This gorgeous grasslands bird has the longest migration of any North American songbird. In Spring they migrate from the rice fields and pampas (grasslands) of South America in Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina to the grasslands and hayfields of North America - a roundtrip that can total over 12,000 miles! They like returning to the same location each year to breed and will often raise nestlings with help from their offspring from earlier years, or from adults whose nests failed. Easy to identify, they are the only bird in North America who is black underneath and white on top....at least during breeding season. They undergo two complete molts which give them two completely different appearances - a South American look in winter and a North American look in summer.
This denizen of the arid and rocky mountains and canyonlands of the western US like most wrens, has a really interesting song. Canyon Wrens are well adapted to their dry and rocky terrain where they are found climbing on rocks and looking for insects such as spiders in rock crevices With a white front, dark brown and rust body overall, they have very long beaks which they need to pry insects from between rocks. Finding a Canyon Wren is so much easier if you just listen for the song, which typically precedes the appearance of this attractive and musical wren.
Look high in the trees to see this stunning songbird. With a bright orange and black body, and spectacular song, the males are heard and seen in leafy forests in the spring and summer east of the US Rocky Mountains. The Baltimore oriole is a weaver bird, and the more subdued looking females weave long sack-like nests that hang from tree branches, safe from predators. Baltimore orioles have a really distinctive song. It's one of our spring favorites -- make it your iPhone ringtone.
Robins are the most common of all thrushes found in the US. Often associated with the first sign of spring, many of them actually spend the entire year in one place. Growing bushes near your home that have fruits and berries will help hungry robins through the winter. This lilting robin ringtone will give you a musical reminder of spring all year round.
With their bright yellow breasts and beautiful “V” necklace, it’s hard to believe meadowlarks are members of the blackbird family. There are two species of meadowlarks – eastern and western – and they are very difficult to tell apart. That is, until they sing. Both have beautiful songs, but very different. The Western Meadowlark has a beautiful complex fluty song; and his Eastern counterpart….a lovely song but a little simpler. Meadowlarks are grassland birds, and Western Meadowlarks can be found in mixed flocks feeding on the ground in the mid-west and western US; Eastern Meadowlarks in the mid-west and eastern US and into Mexico and northern South America. Their territories only occasionally are shared and they rarely hybridize. Both nest in Canada and in the northern US – on their respective sides of the continent! Males in both species of meadowlark have two mates.
There are few warbler species quite as brilliantly colored as the Yellow Warbler. Males tend to have orange streaks on the breast and both males and females have yellow patches on their tails. They are typically found along the edges of wetlands where they like to build their nests. Long distance migrants, they travel from Canada to South America every year. Yellow Warblers face many challenges along the way and have been known to even become entangled in the web of an orb weaver spider. Their song is a perfect ringtone as they say, “sweet-sweet-sweet-I’m-so-sweet”.
Wood Thrushes have what may be the most ethereal of all North American bird songs. Their song is an iconic sound of the Northwoods, and they rely on mature deciduous and mixed forests which they migrate to from Latin America to raise their young each year. But Wood Thrush populations have been very hard hit with 6 of every 10 Wood Thrushes having been lost since 1970 according to #3billionbirds. These beautiful little thrushes are bird which many people look forward to seeing when they arrive in spring as their presence brings an uplifting and special quality to the deep forest.
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With their bright yellow breasts and beautiful “V” necklace, it’s hard to believe meadowlarks are members of the blackbird family. There are two species of meadowlarks – eastern and western – and they are very difficult to tell apart. That is, until they sing. Both have beautiful songs, but very different. The Western Meadowlark has a beautiful complex fluty song; and his Eastern counterpart….a lovely song but a little simpler. Meadowlarks are grassland birds, and Western Meadowlarks can be found in mixed flocks feeding on the ground in the mid-west and western US; Eastern Meadowlarks in the mid-west and eastern US and into Mexico and northern South America. Their territories only occasionally are shared and they rarely hybridize. Both nest in Canada and in the northern US – on their respective sides of the continent! Males in both species of meadowlark have two mates.
