Hilarious Bird Sounds With Becca Rowland

BirdNote^®
Hilarious Bird Sounds With Becca Rowland
Written by Ariana Remmel

This is BirdNote.

Birds make a lot of sounds — so many that author and illustrator Becca Rowland had a hard time keeping them straight. Then they began picking up on familiar noises in common bird calls — like when Becca heard a dog’s squeaky toy in the trees.

         [Northern Flicker]

Becca Rowland: And I remember that exact moment hearing that noise and knowing immediately in my soul that it was a Northern Flicker. It's so satisfying to make that connection in your brain and just know the answer to that.

Now Becca’s written a guide called Bird Talk: Hilariously Accurate Ways to Identify Birds by the Sounds they Make. The entries are both fun and functional!

Becca Rowland: If it sounds like a truck beeping as it backs up, it's a Red-breasted Nuthatch.

         [Red-breasted Nuthatch]

Becca Rowland: If it sounds like someone enjoying a fireworks display, it's a Common Eider.

         [Common Eider]

Becca Rowland: If it sounds like a weed whacker, it's a Rhinoceros Auklet.

         [Rhinocerous Auklet]

Becca Rowland: If it sounds like wiggling a piece of aluminum siding in the air, it's a Gunnison Sage-Grouse.

         [Gunnison Sage-Grouse]

All jokes aside, Becca hopes their book can help folks appreciate the birds all around us.

Becca Rowland: Birds were just background for me. And when I was out and about, I wasn't paying attention. I am super paying attention now. [laugh]

         [Gunnison Sage-Grouse]

Want to join the fun? Start at our website, BirdNote.org. I’m Michael Stein.

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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Producer: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin

Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Common Eider ML618817385 recorded by Leo Wilhelm. Gunnison Sage-Grouse ML141138 recorded by Gerrit Vyn. Northern Flicker ML409396031 recorded by Jeff Ellerbusch. Red-breasted Nuthatch ML44959 recorded by Geoffrey A. Keller. Rhinoceros Auklet ML572692321 recorded by Faiza Hafeez.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2026 BirdNote March 2026
Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# RowlandB-03-2026-03-19    RowlandB-03