April 17 2020 | Taking Flight

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Hi everybody, each week I (Sean Kent – MABA’s education and camp director) deliver a live online illustrated lecture called Nature Notes for the residents of Orchard Cove in Canton. I love nature and am infinitely curious with what is going on natural world. I am an educator, naturalist, accomplished landscape and wildlife photographer, and field biologist with expertise in native bee biology, species interactions, and ecology in general.

This post contains additional resources that correspond with the lecture, but might also be of interest to readers of Taking Flight in addition to the residents of Orchard Cove. Please contact me ([email protected]) if you or your organization/residence might be interested in live online illustrated lectures, including lectures on The Secret Life of Backyard Birds and Native Bees and other Pollinators. Be well and safe.

Learning and Understanding Bird Songs

During our Nature Notes from April 10, several participants in the lecture expressed interest in learning more about how to identify bird songs. Here are a few references that will help with to learn bird songs this spring.

How To Listen To Bird Song—Tips And Examples From The Warbler Guide from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This article contains the three questions to ask about a song: (1) What Is The Sound Quality Of The Song?, (2) What Is The Pitch Of The Song?, and (3) How Many Sections Does The Song Have? It’s a really great introduction to learning bird songs along with great visualizations of bird songs.

How to Start Identifying Birds by Their Songs and Calls from National Audubon

Start Using Spectrograms to ‘Read’ Bird Songs and Calls by National Audubon

Buzzy Song – Prairie Warbler

For more bird songs and visualizations, please go to the bottom of the page.

Lyrid Meteor Shower

The Lyrid Meteor Shower will peak on April 21 and April 22. Here is more information from NASA.

Osprey

Enjoy our Nature in a Minute about an Osprey catching lunch.

Osprey Eggs laid at the end of March 2020

From YouTube: Cornell Lab of Ornithology – Watch live at www.allaboutbirds.org/savannahospreys

Live Osprey Camera from Savannah, Georgia

From YouTube: Cornell Lab of Ornithology – Watch live at www.allaboutbirds.org/savannahospreys

Bird of the Day from Mass Audubon: American Robin

Bird of the Day from Mass Audubon: The Northern Cardinal

Eastern Phoebe Natural History

From YouTube: Dominique Lalonde Films Nature

Eastern Phoebe Sonogram

Located on YouTube: Avian Vocal Behavior by Bruce Byers and Donald Kroodsma in the Handbook of Bird Biology 3rd Edition from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Wiley Publishing. http://birdbiology.org Recordist: Wilbur L. Hershberger. Courtesy of Macaulay Library/Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ID100741

Eastern Towhee

Eastern Towhee Song