How to Identify a Songbird by Its Sound

Identifying songbirds by sound can be an exciting and rewarding hobby.

Listening to songbirds can be a pleasant pastime, an enjoyable hobby and an expansive learning experience. Identifying each songbird by its sound can seem overwhelming at first, but with time and practice, almost anyone can master classifying birds by their calls and songs. A number of useful tools exist that can aid bird-watchers in their quest to recognize songbirds by their sounds and streamline the researching process. With helpful study tips, categorizing songbirds by sound will become a favorite pursuit.

Things You'll Need

• Camera
• Songbird picture book
• Audio CDs, tapes or recordings

Instructions

1. Snap photos of the various songbirds near your watching and viewing area. Establish a bird feeder to encourage birds to visit your home.

2. Purchase a songbird book with birds native to your geographical area and compare the book's photos with the photos you took of live birds at your listening or viewing area. This picture book will make identifying your specific songbirds much easier and faster.

3. Listen to recordings, CDs or tapes with the sounds of the songbirds you identified. Listen to these sounds and songs until you can easily recognize them and can readily say the bird's name and species.

4. Return to your viewing and listening area and try to identify the songbirds you hear. Listen first; name the bird; and then look for it in the surrounding area. Chances are you've correctly identified your first songbird by sound.

5. Take more pictures of new birds that you aren't familiar with and repeat the process described in Steps 1 through 4.

References

• Birding: Bird Identification
• Nature's Sound: Native Songbirds in Color and Sound
• What Bird: Birds of North America: Song or Call Live