[mou] birding by song

[Thomas Maiello]

I am soooo lousy at IDing birds by song!  Frustrating as can be as the  
woods this time of year are so chock full of the cacophony of our  
feathered compadres.  I have envied those who can simply listen and  
say "Hooded Warber!"  Of course I nod agreeingly while in my head  
thinking "If you say so."  I have the bird song CDs.  I have my iPod.   
I have my headphones.  And they do help when I am searching out a  
particular bird.  But somehow it hasn't struck until this year (that's  
after a bit over 30 years of birding).  And so I dare to share my  
revelation on MOU as well as MnBird although it would have a better  
home only at the latter.

I have known and now own that I am a visual learner.  That is why I am  
good at seeing a bird and knowing what it is.  But I never knew how I  
would ever "see" a song and relate it to a bird.  This year I have  
continued a thought and birding practice that I started last year.  I  
keep looking at a bird until I can see it sing - hopefully repeatedly  
- and of course this doesn't work if they aren't timing their singing  
while I am looking.  Somehow, watching a bird sing, the movements of  
its body during the call, whether it be a particular quivering of the  
beak, a repeated movement of the tail during the call, the position on  
the limb, the posture of its head, a certain energy I experience, or  
whatever other unbeknownst to me sensed uniqueness, I can actually  
recall the image in my head the next time I hear the call.  I can see  
the bird from last year singing that particular call.

I am sure there are those out there who can listen to the CDs  
repeatedly or (as I tried) going to sleep with them playing in their  
ears.  It didn't work for me.  I had to turn it into a visual  
experience where each element of a song related to a connection with a  
visual image of the bird singing it.  Obviously it takes a lot of  
birding to have each bird etched into my visual memory - but how is  
this for results.  I heard a call yesterday and got so excited even  
before I found the bird.  I knew somehow that it was a Magnolia  
Warbler - one of my favorites.  When I finally found the beastie  
slowing festering over each and every aged flower bud on this one huge  
tree - I realized what I had accomplished.  I knew the bird by call  
(visual call) as I could see in my head the bird actually calling.

I then applied that to the other birds that I know by call like  
Chipping Sparrows, Robins, Orioles, various woodpeckers, etc, and I  
realized that was also how I learned their call - from repeatedly  
watching them sing.

All you birding-by-ear folks are probably rolling your eyes at this  
point but you have been blessed with gift you likely take for  
granted.  You can just do it.  I have tried for 30+ years am only now  
putting the pieces together.  In fact I have always felt lesser than  
those who can bird by ear.  Sufficiently so that I always have  
questioned both my sightings and hearings in that I couldn't identify  
both - like I had to know it all before I would have a legitimate bit  
of information to share.  Now I have a method to overcome my lesser  
than madness.

Another huge step for a man, and a giant leap for auditorily impaired  
visual ornithology!

Thomas Maiello
Angel Environmental Management, Inc.
Maple Grove, MN