The Little Book of Woodland Bird Songs

Here are some of the birds you'll meet in The Little Book of Woodland Bird Songs:

Black-capped chickadee

This is one of the few birds named after its call – the cheery ‘chickadeedee’ – used by both males and females to keep in touch with others around them. Additional ‘dees’ are added at the end of the call if the bird is alarmed. The male’s song is a simple ‘fee-bee’ that rings out from late winter to spring to attract a mate and to mark out territory.

Red crossbill

Woodland birds have an impressive array of beaks but none is stranger than that of the red crossbill. Although it looks unnatural, it is the perfect shape for prising open cones to reach the seeds inside. Their color and size and the types of sounds these birds make, varies between regions but their songs usually start with a few ‘chup, chup’ notes followed by a series of warbles and trills.

Sharp-shinned hawk

These secretive birds of prey spend the breeding season hidden away under the dense canopy of the forest. You are most likely to see them as they migrate south for winter or when surprizing an unsuspecting songbird at a feeder. Male and female pairs use a series of squeals and high-pitched ‘kek-kek-kek’ calls to communicate to each other.

Common loon

Listen to the sound here of the loon’s haunting wail – performed mostly at night prior to nesting – followed by its laughing call or tremolo. This signals possible danger or is given in flight. The male common loon also produces a far-reaching yodel, which he uses when establishing his territory. Although this bird is a superb swimmer and adept diver, on land it waddles about clumsily.

White-breasted nuthatch

If you hear a “tap-tap-tap” noise in the woods, it may well be a white-breasted nuthatch cracking open food that it has wedged in tree crevices. Look for it hopping head-first down trunks using its powerful claws for gripping. Male and female nuthatches have quite a wide range of calls but the male’s song, given here, is heard in late winter and spring.

Red-eyed vireo

This small bird migrates each spring from the Amazon to eastern North America. The male arrives first and sets about singing from the tops of trees to warn other males to keep away from his patch. He strikes up before dawn and continues throughout the day. His rising and falling song is one of the easiest to recognize and though it sounds rather repetitive, it is in fact very varied.