|
May 2018
6:48pm, 8 May 2018
2,540 posts
|
steve45
I learned bird songs/calls when I was a kid (fifty five years ago!) and found that stalking a singing or calling bird somehow helped to implant the whole thing to my brain! It took patience and time-like learning a language. In the day there was a double vinyl record (everyone know what a record is?!) published by Witherby which was considered the "bible" and which of course helped in the same way that apps do know. There's a good web site www.british-birdsongs.uk (dunno if it's .co.uk) which is worth keeping at hand.
I find a Garden Warbler song similar of course to a Blackcap but it doesn't have the same crescendo and loud middle bit and is more of a constant, somewhat slightly quitter warble.
|
|
May 2018
7:39pm, 8 May 2018
1,220 posts
|
J2R
Steve45, another very useful way of distinguishing blackcap and garden warbler I once read was that the blackcap sounds like a speeded-up robin while a garden warbler sounds like a speeded-up blackbird! I've found that helpful in the past. Having said that, I've still never been entirely convinced until I've actually seen the little blighters singing (which is often not so easy, particularly with the skulking garden warbler).
|
|
May 2018
8:46pm, 8 May 2018
1,150 posts
|
Heinzster
Thanks for the advice, guys, much appreciated! Homework awaits 😁
|
|
May 2018
8:46pm, 8 May 2018
25,796 posts
|
Derby Tup
I’m nipping out on woodcock patrol 
|
|
May 2018
9:03pm, 8 May 2018
1,221 posts
|
J2R
I have to say, Heinzster, that learning the songs and calls is one of the best possible things you can do for your birding enjoyment. You end up seeing far more birds when you can identify them by sound. Often birds are lurking within bushes, unlikely to catch the eye, but if you suddenly hear the song you can immediately think "there's a wood warbler in that tree over there", or whatever, and look straight at it.
Beyond that, it just helps me enjoy being out in nature even more. I love the tapestry of sound of bird song all around me, but if I can make out the details, as it were, I enjoy it even more, it adds another dimension to my experience.
|
|
May 2018
9:20pm, 8 May 2018
17,567 posts
|
KinkyS
J2R is spot on. Learning bird song amplified my experience of birding 100-fold 
I learnt by going out and looking and listening. Start with whatever is common around you - for me it was blackbird, robin, dunnock, wren, blue tit, great tit, chaffinch and goldfinch. At first you find the bird visually then hear the song, but after a while you start hearing the song and knowing what you're looking for. Once you've got your basic list, make a point of listening out for the 'I don't recognise that' sounds and track them down. You learn surprisingly quickly just by getting out there - imho it's better than apps/recordings because the context of where you actually are helps a lot.
And keep practising because you forget quickly too at first! I still make a point of noting the dunnocks, tits and finches around me so that they are instinctive, making it easier to go 'oooooo' immediately when something more exotic crosses your path
|
|
May 2018
9:29pm, 8 May 2018
25,797 posts
|
Derby Tup
No woodcock seen (or heard) but have got chance to use two of my favourite words: crepuscular and cryptic
|
|
May 2018
9:32pm, 8 May 2018
25,798 posts
|
Derby Tup
Posts above are spot-on. Simon Barnes makes the point earlier on hearing a bird (only) can be much more fulfilling / exciting than a fleeting or distant view
|
|
May 2018
9:52pm, 8 May 2018
3,007 posts
|
Fragile Do Not Bend
I find bird songs so difficult too! I think I’ve got one nailed then next time I hear it I’m not sure again. Getting there, but very slowly.
|
|
May 2018
12:43am, 9 May 2018
17,563 posts
|
flanker
Frag - I'm the same. I can know it perfectly, then literally 10 minutes later not have a clue what it is. We have a number of semi-tame robins and I still don't have a clue if its them or the dunnocks singing!
I think some of it is how your brain is wired. I still struggle to tell what a person's accent is: put me in a room with a geordie, scott, & irishman and I'll know they all have accents but I'll struggle to match them to locations! But I bet it'd be a good booze-up though
|
