Now it has started in on a living room window. Narcissism may not be confined to Homo sapiens. But the myth that represents your towhee dilemma has more to do with Sisyphus than Narcissis.
A recent study of bottlenosed dolphins found that individuals could recognize themselves in mirrors; the males, in particular, spent an inordinate amount of time admiring, or at least considering, their own image. Dolphins may be able to make the intellectual leap to abstraction and figure out that a reflection is not reality. Birds, however, have not had the evolutionary opportunities to develop such sophisticated reasoning skills.
During the breeding season, song birds including towhees expend a tremendous amount of energy defining and defending their territories see above.
Naturalist and writer Jules Evens has lived near Point Reyes for over 30 years. Every story from Bay Nature magazine is the product of a team of people dedicated to connecting our readers to the world around them and increasing environmental literacy. Close Search. Share This:. Both sexes vocalize with calls, and they can be heard in all seasons.
But be aware that not all songs are so showy. Studies have shown that in most songbirds, the basic call notes are instinctive. This is important because it leads to more individual variability in songs than in calls.
Listen to the standard chip note of the Yellow Warbler: It always sounds pretty much the same, but the songs of the males are endlessly unique. Songs may be easier on the ears, but tuning in on calls will reveal a staggering amount of variety and complexity among birds. Common Ravens, for example, generate up to 33 different categories of sounds. Some calls can even have multiple meanings. Amazingly, birds can tailor their calls to respond to a wide range of threats.
But if a raptor is perched, smaller species might try to project deeply and loudly to rally the troops and mob the intruder. Chickadees, for instance, utter a high seet when they see an aerial predator. Species that flock often call back and forth while in flight; this is a good way to detect clouds of blackbirds, waxwings, siskins, or bluebirds passing overhead. Flocks of shorebirds also may be vocal in the air. But many less-social species also have distinctive flight calls that are quite different from their usual calls.
During spring and fall, most songbirds migrate at night; if you listen closely, you can hear their various chirps drifting down from the dark sky. These calls may be regularly repeated and sound pretty darn pathetic. They're also not the best for getting down to species IDs, but they'll tip you off to any parent-chick viewing opportunities always from a safe distance , of course.
And that can be a challenge, given that some songbirds can sing two notes at once. Try to pay attention to the pitch whether the notes are high or low , the tempo or speed , and how the tone sounds. Once you have a rough description, you can see if they fit the characterizations that most birders and field guides use.
This is a quick run of similar phrases that seem to blur together, almost like an old-school alarm clock or Nokia ringtone. Generally, rich sounds are low and full, and thin songs are high and faint. This word describes any rough-sounding call that may be grating on the ear. The caw of an American or Fish Crow is a familiar example, though the latter is much more nasally.
This is where all that marching-band practice comes in handy. You can compare bird sounds with instruments or other common objects—the melodic notes of a Hermit Thrush with a flute, or the rusty screech of a Common Grackle with a swinging gate. Downy Woodpeckers advertise their presence by drumming rapidly on a tree —and sometimes on the side of your house. In fact, you can ID certain woodpecker species by measuring the pace of their knocks. Listen for subtler sounds, too, such as shuffling leaves, flapping feathers, and clumsy, crashing fowl in water.
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