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One of the most remarkable singers on the European continent is the Bluethroat. Often singing while fluttering aloft, Bluethroats mix their own song elements with imitations of just about every bird within hearing distance. They'll even try their luck with crickets, tree frogs, and train whistles. Given that the famed nightingale is a close relative, it’s not surprising that the little Bluethroat has a big voice!
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BirdNote®
Song of the Bluethroat
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote.
[Bluethroat song]
One of the most remarkable singers on the continent is the Bluethroat. Its long song meanders…in trills, buzzes, and bell-like notes. [Bluethroat song]
Sweet phrase-making runs in the family: one of the Bluethroat’s closest relatives is the famed nightingale. [Song of the Common Nightingale]
Bluethroats are primarily an Old World species, nesting in willow thickets across far northern Europe and Asia, and reaching east across the Bering Strait into northern Alaska.
Despite the big voice, it’s a small bird, not quite 6” long. Males are exquisite, with blue throat, and upper breast boldly accented in red, black, and white. [Bluethroat song]
Often singing while fluttering aloft, Bluethroats mix their own song elements with imita-tions of just about every bird within hearing distance. They'll even try their luck with crickets, tree frogs, and train whistles. [Bluethroat song elaborate]
Today's show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.
For BirdNote, I'm Michael Stein.
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Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Song of the Bluethroat [141088] recorded by Benjamin M. Clock at Salmon Lake, Alaska, June 7th 2009. Song of the Common Nightingale [86190] recorded in Taliouline, Morocco by A. Vendenbuerg, April 18th 1997.
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Dominic Black
© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org May 2015 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# BLUE-01-2015-05-10BLUE-01
Sights & Sounds
