When you’re birding by ear, you use the same skills as when you’re recognizing music; listening to sounds, patterns, changes in pitch, in tone and in volume, but in nature rather than in music. You ...

Waking up to the dawn chorus of birds—one of the natural world's greatest symphonies—is a joy like no other. It is not ...

Scientist and musician David Rothernberg takes discussion of bird songs a step further than biological imperative, and recognizes these tunes distinct to each species as music. David Rothenberg: When ...

As a newcomer, should you first learn by looking for birds or listening for them? "You can choose which aspects of observing birds brings you the most joy," says Ken Elkins, community conservation ...

Researchers have tracked muscle contractions in a bird's vocal tract, and reconstructed the song it was silently singing in its sleep. The resulting audio is a very specific call, allowing the team to ...

Go outside in the early morning, and let your ears detect the birth of spring heralded by bird song, nature's most beautifully composed chorus. All we have to do is listen; the opening harmonies will ...

THE WEAKEST FEATURE in field guides is the description of a bird’s song or call. Trying to put into words what a bird’s song sounds like is futile. You feel like an idiot muttering phrases like, “see, ...

Birds play an important role in a wide variety of ecosystems as both predator and prey, in controlling insect populations, pollinating and seed dispersal for many plants, and in releasing nutrients on ...

Bird sounds at the crack of dawn are not part of everyone’s morning. If you live in a city, there’s a good chance that bird populations have migrated elsewhere, as they struggled to compete with urban ...

“I’m… so… tired.” One September morning, you’ll hear those three plaintive, descending notes emerge from the edge of the yard, a new sound in this quiet ...

Oregon is home to more than 500 bird species. Portland has an annual month-long festival dedicated to the migratory Vaux's swift. The nearby Sandy River Delta boasts a blind (a special structure made ...