Telling Apart Two Cheery Bird Songs

BirdNote®
Telling Apart Two Cheery Bird Songs
Written by Conor Gearin

This is BirdNote.

    [American Robin song]

American Robins begin piping up in late winter and then sing all through spring and  summer, sometimes well into fall, too. One way to remember their song’s pattern is with the words, “cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up!”

    [American Robin song]

The Baltimore Oriole has a pretty similar song. At first, you might think there’s no way to tell these two cheery, upbeat singers apart.

    [Baltimore Oriole song]

But there are a couple of differences. The robin has that whole sentence to say: “cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up!”

    [American Robin song]

In contrast, the oriole usually stops after a phrase or two.

    [Baltimore Oriole song]

After a while you might start to hear more subtle distinctions. Baltimore Orioles sound sweeter, more melodic than American Robins, who can come across a little screechy at times.

Once more, here’s the long-winded robin:

    [American Robin song]

And the short and sweet oriole:

    [Baltimore Oriole song]

Listen for these sweet singers wherever you get your birdsong.

    [Baltimore Oriole song]

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

This episode is brought to you in memory of longtime BirdNote fan and supporter, Philip Stoller, and with thanks to his family for their support.

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Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. American Robin ML168300 recorded by Wil Hershberger, and Baltimore Oriole ML220774 recorded by Bob McGuire.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2024 BirdNote February 2024
Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# AMRO-BAOL-01-2024-02-12        AMRO-BAOL-01