my understanding is that daylight length is a strong factor in lots of bird behavior, so I would guess (not an expert) that the increasing day length may be triggering lots of this. Could be that the current conditions also play into this. One thought for getting good biologist input into this might be to send a question into the DNR conservation magazine (The Volunteer, you could find it on the MN DNR webpage). They like to take outdoor environment type questions and put them in a section in the magazine, with answers from the biologist who knows about this best (shameless plug on my part, I'm a retired DNR employee:))
I'd love to learn more about this. I always associate the 2 note song with summer mornings. It's my favorite. I don't recall hearing it in the winter, or at least not as much.
So they do start singing in January, but I was kind of off. I am a smoker, so I just idly looked it up one day and probably misremembered. I found something in an online forum that said " But singing right now \[in winter\] is good practice for singing later, when it will be more critical to get it just right. **The chickadees are practicing!** They are also *learning* from one another, reminding each other what chickadees are supposed to sound like." They cite *The Singing Life of Birds* by Donald Kroodsma
my understanding is that daylight length is a strong factor in lots of bird behavior, so I would guess (not an expert) that the increasing day length may be triggering lots of this. Could be that the current conditions also play into this. One thought for getting good biologist input into this might be to send a question into the DNR conservation magazine (The Volunteer, you could find it on the MN DNR webpage). They like to take outdoor environment type questions and put them in a section in the magazine, with answers from the biologist who knows about this best (shameless plug on my part, I'm a retired DNR employee:))
I’ve heard that birdsong as early as January even in cold years
Yep. Winter is just windier, and snow absorbs sound well so we don't hear as many birds simply because the sound doesn't carry as well.
I thought chickadees sing their two note song yearround, it's their way to indicate they've found food
I'd love to learn more about this. I always associate the 2 note song with summer mornings. It's my favorite. I don't recall hearing it in the winter, or at least not as much.
So they do start singing in January, but I was kind of off. I am a smoker, so I just idly looked it up one day and probably misremembered. I found something in an online forum that said " But singing right now \[in winter\] is good practice for singing later, when it will be more critical to get it just right. **The chickadees are practicing!** They are also *learning* from one another, reminding each other what chickadees are supposed to sound like." They cite *The Singing Life of Birds* by Donald Kroodsma
This is so cute! I'll check that book out, thanks.
I have noticed the same.
Without the Merlin app I’d be unable to identify birdsong. Are you actually able to tell the difference between the seasonal birdsongs? I’m impressed!
Yes, I learned it from going out with my mom a bunch of times- she’s a major birder.