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| Mallard |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Cuckoo |
How many birds can you identify by call or song? Probably more than you think. The three photographed above for example. The "Quack" of a Mallard, the "Caw" of a Carrion Crow and the "Cuckoo" of....... a Cuckoo. You may never have seen one, but you would likely know what it was when you heard one.
A few others you may know, - the "pink" of a Chaffinch, the screaming of a Swift, the mewing of a Buzzard circling up on a thermal, or the noisy scolding of an Oystercatcher. Examples of possibly familiar birdsongs include the "little bit of bread and no cheese" of a Yellowhammer, or the constant string of notes from a Skylark making its way skywards on a sunny day. Robins sing in the depths of winter, sometimes even during the hours of darkness.
There are lots of birds that can be easily identified "by ear", and the more you are able to link what you hear, with what you see, the easier it becomes. Even when you can't initially see the bird, hearing a call or a song can help you find it. In a lot of cases, you may be unfamiliar with a particular call or song but you may think it sounds like something else, most likely from the same bird family.
Lots of times I have been out and about and picked up birds by ear. Waxwings, in particular, last winter were around in large numbers and I picked up several overflying groups by hearing their trimphone-like calls.
There are days when the ears are a more important tool for finding birds than the eyes. It can be tricky in late Spring to pick up birds by sight as the foliage thickens, but if one is singing it becomes easier to pinpoint where the song is coming from.
The easiest way to learn to ID birds by ear is to see them singing/calling, but there are other ways to learn. Online resources like the Xeno-Canto website has recordings of bird songs and calls from all over the world. There are also numerous books with CDs included that can be used as teachig aids. Whichever way you choose to learn, you won't regret taking the time, as it opens up a whole new means of finding birds.
Keep your ears and eyes open at all times and you will see birds everywhere.