How to Know Birds by Their Calls

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By Virginia Allain
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Know Birds by Their Calls

If you love the sound of bird calls and love bird watching, you can train yourself to recognize birds by their sounds. After some practice, you'll know when a cardinal or a chickadee is around even if you can't see them. Here's how to memorize bird calls.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Step 1

You can get CDs that help you recognize bird songs. Unfortunately these are pretty expensive. I've included a link below if you want to get those. The advantage is you can listen to it while commuting in your car.
Step 2

Here's the free way to learn bird calls. Sit down at your computer. Turn on the sound.
Step 3

Go to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology web site. It's packed with wonderful information about birds, birding, bird photography, and attracting birds to your yard. Don't get distracted by all that great stuff, go to the BIRD GUIDE. I've provided the link below in Resources so it's easy to get to.
Step 4

I suggest starting with the most common birds. You'll find that you already know some of them by sound and sight. Click on the cardinal, for instance. Then click on the tab for SOUND and you'll see that there are four recordings to listen to. Cardinals actually make sixteen sounds, so even a bird that you thought you knew will surprise you.
Step 5

Kildeer making a distress call

While listening to the sound, look at the photo of the bird and its name. This helps lock the three things together in your mind. Unless you have a photographic memory, it will take several repetitions for you to learn each bird by its sound.
Step 6

Whenever you're outside, tune into the bird calls and see if you can identify them. If you find an unfamiliar one, expand your repetoire by listening to more birds on the computer. With each bird there is a range map, so you can see which ones might be found in your area.