May Nature Almanac: Listen, It’s Spring
By Ruth Carol Cushman, with Stephen R. Jones and Scott Severs
May 2024
The Earth has music for those who listen" - Reginald Holmes
Last year I was startled to read this advice in the New York Times, "…go for a walk or a drive while listening to '“Slow Radio”, a very soothing BBC podcast featuring sounds of the natural world.” But why listen to a podcast when you can listen to the real thing… especially in May when the dawn chorus is in full voice at any marsh, meadow, or woodland.
All birds have a wide repertoire of sounds ranging from sweet melodies to raucous cries and soft chips and chirps. In this column, we highlight some of our favorite songs and singers who may be performing to attract a mate, to repel a rival, or simply for their own enjoyment.
Western Meadowlarks, one of the first birds to sing up the spring, often tune up in February. With newly gold breasts, they have a right to say “I am prettier than you”! What words do you hear in their song?
Editor’s Note: All buttons to listen to a bird’s song or vocalization will take you to the corresponding webpage on All About Birds. It will not directly play that sound.
A male Yellow-headed Blackbird perches in a cattail marsh. Photo by Glenn Cushman.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds with comical, discordant calls—often preceded by a noise like someone throwing up-- are one of our favorites. Are they saying “ko ko ko kopelli” or, perhaps, “Cococo-cobana”?
Pied-billed Grebes are also loud, unmusical singers. When Merlin, the phone app that identifies bird sounds, first identified them for me, I found it hard to believe. How can such a brash voice come out of this tiny duck-like bird that’s often hidden in the reeds?
Snipe and bobolink stake out claims in wet meadows where they engage in aerial displays.
When male snipe zigzag down over their breeding territories, the wind rushing through their tail feathers makes a hollow “winnowing” sound, very similar to the call of the Boreal Owl. They also make a sharp call when perched.
A male Bobolink sings from a post near a wet meadow. Photo by Glenn Cushman.
Bobolinks sing a bubbly song both in flight and when perched.
Yellow-breasted Chats sing a medley of mimicked songs, a bit like a mockingbird. They either perch at the top of a tree showing off their bright yellow breasts or they skulk in the brush where they’re impossible to find.
A Yellow-breasted Chat sings a medley of mimicked songs. Photo by Glenn Cushman.
Grackles and starlings make sounds sometimes described as “machinery badly in need of lubrication.” But listen closely and you’ll hear more. Great-tailed Grackles, especially, have a wide range of calls. If they land in a tree above you and shriek, you will jump!
American Robins that have been around all winter begin to truly serenade in early spring. Sometimes they sound grumpy. More often, they call on you to cheer up. The All About Bird’s website transcribes their song as cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up.
Birds are not the only spring music-makers. Chorus frogs with inflatable bubblegum-like throats sound like someone running a finger across a comb.
Woodhouse toads make such a prolonged snore-like call that you feel like offering them a CPAP machine.
The ripples and burbles of a rushing creek or the roar of a waterfall can be mesmerizing. In addition to the water music, you might hear the complex song of an American Dipper, one of the few birds to sing in winter.
These are just a few of our favorite spring sounds. What are your favorites and what lyrics do you put to the tunes?
Other May Events
Wild plums bloom in the foothills attracting Julia orangetips, red admirals, and other butterflies.
Sugarbowls, larkspur, chiming bells, pink ball cacti -- a new flower seems to open every day.
May thunderstorms create mud-luscious puddles where swallowtail butterflies and little blues probe for nutrients.
Colorado chipmunks, striped skunks, and white-tailed deer are born.
World Migratory Bird Day, May 18, celebrates returning warblers and other migrants. For details, check the event at www.boulderaudubon.org