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May 2018
8:46am, 9 May 2018
1,222 posts
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J2R
One word of warning for those starting out on the path of getting to know birds by song... That exciting, unfamiliar song you hear will be coming, 90% of the time, from a great tit  . They have the well-known "teacher, teacher" song, but also an apparent tendency to make new stuff up just to confuse birders.
flanker, that's an interesting point you make and I think you're right, it is down to brain-wiring (if not genetic, then developed over many, many years). I am told I have a keen musical ear. It is apparent that I hear things differently from Mrs J2R. I have been trying to get her to be able to distinguish between wrens and dunnocks by song for years, with no luck, yet for me the difference is very clear. We are obviously just not hearing things the same way.
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May 2018
9:04am, 9 May 2018
3,008 posts
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Fragile Do Not Bend
I’ve never had a passion for music in the way a lot of people do, but I’ve been in a choir and can pick up songs and harmonies fairly easily. I think I cope with music better because you can write it down precisely but you can’t do that with bird song.
I’m much better visually - I can usually identify a bird I know from a very brief sighting.
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May 2018
9:51am, 9 May 2018
1,223 posts
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J2R
Fragile, interestingly, the great French composer Olivier Messiaen did in fact do exactly that - he recorded birdsong in musical notation, and used birdsong in his compositions (notably the cycle of piano pieces called "Catalogue d'Oiseaux"). He was a devout Catholic of a rather mystical persuasion, and for him birds were "little shards of God". I'm not a believer myself but I can often sense what he meant by this.
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May 2018
11:51am, 9 May 2018
25,801 posts
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Derby Tup
Huge spot for me this morning: swift over the house. We moved in November and I’d not been to where we are during ‘swift season’ so hugely pleased (and relieved!) we have swifts 
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May 2018
11:54am, 9 May 2018
25,802 posts
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Derby Tup
I love music and often find myself saying is that a French horn or a tuba; or isn’t that a sample from Spandau Ballet? I’m rubbish at taking down numbers though; say when someone tells me a telephone number or even car reg. I cannot process them at all
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May 2018
12:13pm, 9 May 2018
1,525 posts
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Surelynot
'Little shards of god' - I love that description.
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May 2018
12:39pm, 9 May 2018
15,903 posts
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Chrisity
The experts at learning facts or memorising cards have methods for their retention involving placing objects together in incongruous ways, a horse carrying an umbrella whilst eating toast in a swimming pool or some such nonsense.
It helps to remember bird songs by attachment - the chaffinch is the fast bowler coming up to the wicket and delivering, the robin always ends its song with a question mark (diddle - de - deee???), the willow warbler is wiping its beak, yellowhammers with their little bit of bread and no cheese etc. Perhaps it would be helpful if people listed their mnemonics for the warblers and finches to help others?
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May 2018
1:22pm, 9 May 2018
3,013 posts
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Fragile Do Not Bend
I don’t find that all those aide memoirs help, I get the chaffinch/bowler thing but as an actual bowler doesn’t sound like a chaffinch, I don’t hear a chaffinch and think bowler! Now I can remember a blackcap call sounds like a pebble being tapped, because it actually does.
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May 2018
3:17pm, 9 May 2018
18,495 posts
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Wriggling Snake
Swift here today. Very high up. Very noisy.
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May 2018
3:24pm, 9 May 2018
25,804 posts
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Derby Tup
Birding perfection WS
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