by Elaine Caton, Blackfoot Challenge Bird Program Coordinator
The first time each year that I hear the three clear, whistled notes of a black-capped chickadee song always takes me a bit by surprise. That’s probably because it’s the first bird song I hear in spring, and I usually hear it in February, which isn’t really spring in the Blackfoot. This song is different from the chatter of calls I’ve enjoyed from the chickadees and nuthatches in our yard in the winter, and the singing heralds a change.
Most birds have two major types of vocalizations: calls and songs. Calls are generally short and simple notes and phrases (although not always—think of the tremolo call of a loon!). They can be used to warn of danger, indicate a food source, beg for food from a parent or mate, or simply to keep in touch— “Here I am! Virtually all types of birds use calls, and some species use a bunch of different calls for different situations.
Songs, on the other hand, are usually longer and more complex vocalizations, and are used to claim or advertise a bird’s territory and attract or show off to a mate. Birds sing mostly before and during the breeding season, although a few species sing all year long. In the Blackfoot we can hear the songs of Townsend’s solitaires even in winter, when they sing to defend the juniper trees that produce the berries they depend on for food. Although in most species only the males sing, some female birds also sing.
Some groups of birds that don’t “sing” still make sounds that perform the same functions. We humans might not consider some of these sounds “songs” (check out the loud pumping oong-ka-chunk mating sounds of the American bittern, for example!), but their purpose is the same. And some of these sounds aren’t even vocalizations. Woodpeckers drum on trees and other hard surfaces in spring and early summer. Unlike their more casual, sporadic taps when they are digging for insects or making nest holes, this is the loud, rapid rat-a-tat drumroll sound. Like bird songs, each woodpecker species has a unique drumming pattern that identifies it—although also like bird songs, this can be challenging for human brains to distinguish. The easiest common one to learn in our area is the Red-naped sapsucker, which starts with a drum roll but peters out at the end with a few individual taps, as if it’s running out of steam.
By now (mid-March) most of us have likely been hearing chickadees and blackbirds singing, duets of male and female owl pairs, and some robins. Swans, geese and ducks are starting to move around as ponds and wetlands thaw, making a lot of excited calls as they do. Bluebirds and cranes are showing up in the open fields, and the lakes will fill with waterfowl. Then in a rush, the long-distance migrants like warblers will arrive from the jungles and highlands of Central and South America. This is an exciting time of year for anyone who enjoys birds or even simply the change of seasons their songs and activity announce.
And because we live in bear country, it’s also time to take down our bird feeders. While having a feeder outside our window in the winter really increases my enjoyment, having a bear outside the window does not! As bears come out of hibernation, they can be at near starvation levels, and the protein- and fat-rich seeds are often more tempting than scrounging around for picked-over carcasses until the plants green up. So I’ll take our feeders down and turn my attention to the increasing bird activity and diversity I see and hear when I walk outside, as we hurtle toward spring in the Blackfoot.
To learn more about bird calls and songs, check out The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Sounds & Songs webpage at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/browse/topic/sounds-songs/ .
UM professor Erick Greene explains more about the amazing communications of birds in a Montana Outdoors article.
If you’d like an in-person lesson in bird sounds, join us on Saturday, May 17, 2025, for a Blackfoot bird walk led by Erick Greene. Watch our e-news and web calendar OR contact Elaine Caton at elaine@blackfootchallenge.org for details.