How Much Birds Sing

BirdNote^®

How Much Birds Sing

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote!
    [Black-headed Grosbeak song]
    This rollicking song belongs to a Black-headed Grosbeak. [Black-headed Grosbeak song] Like most birds, the male grosbeak begins singing in earnest a few days after reaching his traditional nesting grounds in spring. [Black-headed Grosbeak song] And, like most birds, he sings frequently when trying to attract a mate. He’ll sing a bit less while he and his mate incubate eggs, but pick up the pace again after the young hatch. [Black-headed Grosbeak song] By late summer, his singing will cease.
    Ever wonder how much a bird sings in one day? Some patient observers have shown that a typical songbird belts out its song between 1,000 and 2,500 times per day. Even though most bird songs last only a few seconds, that’s a lot of warbling!
    On nights with a full moon, male Sage Thrashers have been known to proclaim
their long-winded songs all night. [Sage Thrasher song] But the North American record-holder may well be the Red-eyed Vireo. One such vireo delivered its short song over 22,000 times in ten hours! [Red-eyed Vireo song]
    You could listen to BirdNote all night if you wanted to! Catch up on previous shows or sign up for the podcast at our website, birdnote.org. You can share this show with a friend, too. That’s birdnote.org.  
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Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York.  Song of the Black-headed Grosbeak 126546 recorded by T.G. Sander; song of Sage Thrasher 120223 recorded by G.A. Keller; song of the Red-eyed Vireo 110208 recorded by W.L. Hershberger.          
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2012 Tune In to Nature.org     June 2012     Narrator: Michael Stein

ID#  song-04-2008-06-04-KPLU      song-04b