Spring 2010 Bird Sounds - Study List

Updated 1 April 2010

I have chosen the sounds of 55 birds on which to focus.  Additional species will be discussed in class. If this list looks overwhelming, study the species in Bold.  Each time you learn one of the bold species, move on to a new species!  Based on my own opinion, I have also italicized the species where the most commonly heard vocalization is less complex and less confusing, thereby easier to learn. I have tried to find western bird recordings whenever possible which sound as I often hear them.  Recording links are to Macaulay Library,   xeno-canto, or my own uploaded recordings SoundCloud.

Focus Birds                                           Additional Species

Non-passerines

Wood Duck  female - 1   male - 1 California Quail  1 2 (DSW -"sneeze call")                      Pied-billed Grebe  1 Red-tailed Hawk  1 American Kestrel  1 Killdeer 1                                                                                                               Black-necked Stilt 1 Caspian Tern  1 Mourning Dove  1                                                                                                 Band-tailed Pigeon  1                                                      Barn Owl 1                                                                                                             Great Horned Owl  1   2(DSW) Common Poorwill  1 White-throated Swift 1 Allen's Hummingbird  1 Northern Flicker  1 (Long Call)  (compare with Pileated Woodpecker and Cooper's Hawk)

Passerines       Non-oscine

Olive-sided Flycatcher  1                                                                                    Western Wood Peewee - 1   2 Dawn song Pacific-slope Flycatcher  1 Ash-throated Flycatcher 1 Western Kingbird  1

Oscine

Warbling Vireo  1    (compare with Purple Finch)                                         Cassin's Vireo 1 Steller's Jay  1 Common Raven 1                                                                                                 American Crow   1 Horned Lark  1 Cliff Swallow 1 Oak Titmouse  1                                                                                                    Chestnut-backed Chickadee 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch  1 Brown Creeper 1 House Wren 1 Bewick's Wren  1 (recorded at Lake Lagunitas) Winter Wren  1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1 Western Bluebird  1 2(DSW-dawn song, Tiden Park) Swainson's Thrush 1 American Robin 1 Wrentit  1   (compare with California Towhee) Northern Mockingbird  1 California Thrasher  1 2(DSW pair dueting, Valle Vista) (compare with Northern Mockingbird) European Starling 1 Phainopepla  1 (call then song) Orange-crowned Warbler  1 Wilson's Warbler  1 Western Tanager  1 ( compare with American Robin and Black headed Grosbeak) Spotted Towhee  1 (Marin Co.)   2 (Sacramento Co.)    3 (Utah) Lark Sparrow  1 Song Sparrow  1 White-crowned Sparrow  1 (Nuttall's race)   2 (Gamble's race) Dark-eyed Junco  1 Black-headed Grobeak  1 Lazuli Bunting  1    (compare with Rufous-crowned Sparrow) Red-winged Blackbird  1 Brown-headed Cowbird  1 Western Meadowlark  1 ( compare with Red-winged Blackbird) Bullock's Oriole  1 House Finch  1       (compare with Purple Finch)                                                                                           Lesser Goldfinch 1 American Goldfinch 1 House Sparrow  1