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Music of a City Lake
Learning many of the common bird calls that add to the majestic sounds of your average local body of water.
© Emilie Chen
A city lake is one of the most prized places in a fast, growing environment. It’s also often difficult to distinguish all of the bird calls from each other. With a splash of a beak, a glide of a wing, and an eye of a predator — listen closely, and then again to sharpen your bird ear.
Listen to this show in Spanish here.
BirdNote®
Music of a City Lake
Written by Conor Gearin
This is BirdNote.
A city lake may seem quiet and still, at first. But with a little time, you might start to hear its music…
[Female Wood Duck calls]
Female Wood Ducks call out to each other, keeping an eye out for predators.
Red-winged Blackbirds sing from the cattails.
[Red-winged Blackbird song]
The males perch high on the stems and show off their red shoulder patches, while the females search for food deep in the undergrowth.
[Red-winged Blackbird song]
A Belted Kingfisher flies the length of the shoreline, rattling and diving at small fish.
[Belted Kingfisher rattle call]
Several pairs of Mallards paddle around the shallows, quacking companionably as they dunk their heads in the water looking for food.
[Mallard flock calls]
An Eastern Kingbird dashes out from a high branch to snatch a fly over the water.
[Eastern Kingbird chatter calls]
From a woody thicket along the bank, male Song Sparrows belt out their chorus all day long.
[Song Sparrow song]
But when a Red-tailed Hawk passes overhead,
[Red-tailed Hawk scream]
everyone falls silent.
[Red-tailed Hawk scream]
Stick around long enough and the music will begin again.
[Red-winged Blackbird song]
For BirdNote, I’m Ariana Remmel.
###
Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Wood Duck ML 176235 recorded by Andrew Aldrich, Red-winged Blackbird ML 314523871 recorded by Joshua Brown, Belted Kingfisher ML 242584801 recorded by Darrell Peterson, Mallard ML 282279391 recorded by James Remsen, Eastern Kingbird ML 174047581 recorded by Dave Slager, Song Sparrow ML 256393781 recorded by Dave Slager, and Red-tailed Hawk ML 229578 recorded by David McCartt.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote June 2023
Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# citylake-01-2023-07-07 citylake-01
Conor Gearin
Writer
Ariana Remmel
NarratorSights & Sounds
