How to Identify Birds by Songs - Mechanical sounds produced by birds
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Hello. Welcome to Expert Village. My name is Wayne Petersen and I'm the director of
the Important Bird Areas Program for the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Today, we're here at the
Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary in Marshfield. And, we're going to be talking about birding
by ear. In addition to songs and call notes, which are vocal renditions, various bird species
also make mechanical sounds. Sounds that actually don't involve any kind of physical vocalization.
The drumming of a Woodpecker on a hollow snag, for example, would be a good example of this
type of thing. But, there are others. For instance, various birds, especially shore
birds, often give displays in the air where the sound passing through various parts of
either their wings or their tails can produce peculiar sounds. The American Woodcock, for
example, is a bird that when it takes off it has this sort of soft twittering sound
which is actually made by air passing through the outer flight feathers. Similarly, the
Wilson Snipe, when it's displaying, spreads its tail in flight and basically does a brief
free fall which creates this very peculiar winnowing sound. Some of the game birds, some
of the chicken like birds, will often display, and they'll tap their feet on the ground in
addition to making various gestures with their wings that are interesting in this regard.
So, there are lots of sounds other than strict vocalizations that can be used for some of
the same functions that we find in terms of true songs and calls.
