Ten Woodland Bird Songs

In my previous post on birdsong, I started in the natural place: the backyard. Step outside your door or open your window on a spring morning in a typical residential neighborhood and you are likely to hear a good portion of the ten birds I covered there. Today, I’ll take you to the logical next destination in your journey into local birdsong: the woods.

Oak woodland is one of our most common and characteristic plant communities here in Novato, as well as throughout much of the Bay Area. Note that this general designation of “oak woodland” can refer to a variety of different but related assemblages of broadleaf trees, but in terms of its avian inhabitants should be distinguished from conifer forests or from more open oak savanna, where only scattered trees dot the landscape. Good examples of oak woodland abound in our area: visit Indian Tree, Indian Valley, Olompali, the Dwarf Oak trail on Mount Burdell, Deer Island, Rush Creek, Big Rock Ridge, or China Camp. While the exact species selection can vary from place to place, the ten birds included here are the core members of the auditory landscape (with some help from the “backyard” birds described in that earlier post, many of whom border on or enter into woodland areas as well).

Ten Songs of the Oak Woodland

1. Oak Titmouse (shown in header photo): This is the only repeat from the backyard chapter, since oak titmice have adapted to be common backyard birds while also remaining “the voice and soul of the oaks.” While you might know their raspy call notes, their typical song is quite different in tone, with repeated pairs of forceful, up-and-down notes: teewee-teewee-teewee-teewee. The number of teewees can vary, but listen for the pair of syllables, with a quick alternation between a higher and lower note, as visible in the sonogram below.

Titmice do have a single-pitch variant of this song, rather than the traditional up-and-down version; distinguish it from junco trills by its richer, lower-pitched tone. Overall, titmice are one of the first singers of spring, singing occasionally in December and regularly by the end of January. For a lot more discussion of titmice and their calls, see our big titmouse essay.

2. Dark-eyed Junco: Another of the most ubiquitous songs of the oak woodland. It is hard to go for a spring walk in the woods without hearing titmice and juncos. It is also pretty simple and easy to recognize, a simple trill of rapidly repeated notes at a steady pitch and steady pace. Got it? An even trill – it doesn’t rise or fall in pitch, and it doesn’t accelerate or slow down. It just runs along for three seconds or so, then stops.

3. 

   Bewick’s Wren: This bird is commonly found in woodlands with a moderately rich understory, as well as in other habitats with similar low shrubby cover (chaparral, meadow edges with plentiful coyote bush, coastal scrub, unkempt yards). Their song is variable, sometimes very simple and sometimes longer and more complex.

The important thing is to listen for the distinctive, diagnostic elements. They always start with a quick, soft, introductory “pickup” note, throw a typically wren-like buzz in there later, and end with a series of ringing, staccato notes on one pitch: dee-dee-dee-dee-dee. The first recording here consists of just those three parts. You can see the quick higher note, the buzz (a “tall” vertical blurry line indicates a buzz, i.e. a note without a distinct pitch), and the ending repeated notes. The second recording adds some other intervening bits, but look and listen for those same components, especially the distinctive buzz and the ending with the ringing, repeated note. They always end with that extra loud and helpful punctuation.