Complete guide to learning birdsong
Adrian Thomas, author of the new RSPB Guide to Birdsong book and Cd/ebook, guides us through his key tips and techniques to revolutionise your birding-by-ear skills
Follow our top tips and advice on learning how to master the art of identifying birdsong
There is something special about birdsong, don’t you think? I mean really special. Hearing a Cuckoo sing on a fine morning, or the echo of Curlew calls across a moor, has the power to lift my mood and even bring a lump to my throat. It is simply magnificent, surely one of the wonders of the natural world. And, of course, as spring gathers pace, now is the time when birdsong reaches its peak. Migrant birds are flooding back into the country by the million, and all the males are itching to be heard. Sweet songs, eager songs, happy songs, all combined in one glorious chorus. You don’t need to go far to hear it, for your back garden can be awash with the sounds of our commoner species. Go further afield and you can experience more unusual birds and
enjoy a different choir. It doesn’t even require you to get up at the crack of dawn, for although this is when seemingly every male bird in the vicinity joins in, many keep on singing throughout the day.
Nature’s audio toolkit
Bird sound is not only deeply pleasurable, but it forms a critical part of our toolkit for finding and identifying birds. It was when I began bird surveying 20 years ago that I really began to appreciate how useful it can be. Doing something like the BTO’S Breeding Bird Survey, clipboard and pencil in hand, forces you to hone your skills, such that you come to raise your binoculars only rarely. The birds tell you where they are, and what they are, long before you even see them, if indeed you actually do. However, over the years, I have met a few birdwatchers whose audio skills bowled me over with admiration; people who seemed to be able to identify hidden birds whose sounds I hadn’t even registered. I make no claims to have become as good as those experts, but it certainly got me thinking about what it takes to improve your birding by ear. I felt all the more compelled because I meet so many birdwatchers who tell me how difficult they find it; it has something of a mystique, a sense of the dark arts. Most birdwatchers have got at least a core repertoire of songs that they can recognise, such as the chiffchaffing of the Chiffchaff and the ‘ku-koooo-koo’ of the Collared Dove. But many I know still struggle with, say, Dunnock or Blue Tit song, let alone being confident about how to separate the tinkling of Goldfinch from the twittering of Linnet, or the ‘si-si-i’ of the Goldcrest from the ‘see-see-see’ of Treecreeper. And as for telling Sedge Warbler from Reed Warbler, or Blackcap from Garden Warbler, well, it can seem impossible. So where do you start, and what is the best way to improve?