Birding 101: Bird Vocab Basics

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Birding 101: Bird Vocab Basics
Written by Conor Gearin

Jonese Franklin: This is BirdNote.

    [Yellow-rumped Warbler song]

Any hobby or special interest has its own jargon. You’ll pick up on the silly slang that birders use as you go – like calling the Yellow-rumped Warbler “butterbutt.”

    [Yellow-rumped Warbler song]

Still, learning a few basics of bird vocab is useful when you’re starting out. It’ll help you ask better questions when you’re confused.

And there’s a good place to look for those vocab terms: the opening pages of a bird field guide. Most of the book is made up of species descriptions, but the first few sections have general info about what to call the different parts of a bird, basics on bird behavior, and birding tips. So it’s a quick and helpful read before a trip to find birds.

For now, here are a few vocab words to get you started. The feathers on top of a bird’s head are called the crown.

    [White-crowned Sparrow song]

Bird vocalizations come in two general types: songs used to attract mates, and calls with other meanings such as alarm or just, “hey, I’m over here.”

    [Tufted Titmouse “scold” calls]

The bright white lines found on many songbirds' wings are called wing bars.

    [Magnolia Warbler song]

Like any language, the more you immerse yourself, the faster you’ll learn. 
    
    [Magnolia Warbler song]

For BirdNote, I’m Jonese Franklin.

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Senior Producer: John Kessler
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. Yellow-rumped Warbler ML85230 recorded by Wil Hershberger, White-crowned Sparrow ML207181 recorded by Bob McGuire, Tufted Titmouse ML239212 recorded by Wil Hershberger, and Magnolia Warbler ML228996 recorded by Gregory Budney.
 

BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2024 BirdNote January 2024
Narrator: Jonese Franklin

ID# birding-33-2024-01-29        birding-33