WILD CHILD: Can you hear those birds?

As you head out on a walk, have you heard the birds calling?

WILD CHILD friend Harrison Priebe shared 4 birds we can listen for one our walks this winter and early Spring. Click the links to listen to each bird’s calls and learn a bit more about each one, then head out for a walk and see if you can identify these feathered friends by their calls.

Chickadees: these feisty little birds stay in London all winter and will happily visit your feeders. In the late winter and early spring the males start to sing their mating call. “hey sweetie, hey sweetie” or some people say “cheeseburger, cheese burger”.

Chickadees also make their “chickadee-dee-dee-dee-dee” call year round. Ornathologists (bird scientists) have learned that the number of dees in the call helps to warn other birds about danger. So if you are walking and hear a chickadee calling with 5 or more dees stop and look around. Can you spot what startled the chickadees? Maybe there is a predator around or maybe the chickadees think you are a predator.

American Goldfinch: These bright yellow birds also stay in London year round. They have a very identifiable flight pattern that looks like a roller-coast going up and down. With each up and down they call “po-ta-to chip” ending the call at the top of each undulation.

Carolina Wren: These little birds like to stay in thickets and woodland undergrowth. They also love to sing together. You may even be lucky enough to hear them duet together with the males calling “teakettle, teakettle, teakettle” and the females responding with their buzzy call.

White Throated Sparrow: These little birds can be found in thickets and undergrowth on woodland edges. While their breeding habitat is up near Algonquin, you can often here them calling in our area “Sweet sweet Canada Canada Canada”.

Written by Tandy Morton, WILD CHILD Playgroup Facilitator