Name that melody (and the bird behind it)
This week we invite participants try birding by ear. Practice identifying five species native to your area by their vocalizations. The Sound ID feature of the free Merlin Bird ID app can provide suggestions for what species are calling or singing around you. (People who are deaf or hard of hearing may find Merlin’s spectrograms useful as visual representations of the sounds.)
Tell us: If you are an experienced bird watcher, share tips for identifying birds by their sounds. And if you’re trying this for the first time, let us know how it goes.
Michael Hurben, 56, first started birdwatching in his 20s. He also became interested in Claire Strohmeyer, who happened to be a more experienced bird watcher. When she mentioned on their third date that she was going for a walk with the Audubon Society, Mr. Hurben knew he had met the woman before him.
“I just lost it, because she’s been doing this all her life,” he said. “That was our immediate bond. After that, I wouldn’t let her go.” They married in 1993 and birding became the activity they did together, eventually taking them to 45 countries to see new species.
But just as Mr. Hurben’s interest in birdwatching and Mrs. Strohmeyer was blossoming, his sight began to deteriorate. “It was bad timing,” he said. “I used to be really bothered not to see any birds. In the end I had to deal with that.”
Although Mr. Hurben can no longer see at night and has no peripheral vision, he found a love of birdwatching by ear. With a powerful microphone, he was able to identify and record many birds without having to see them: “I said, ‘If I hear this and I get a recording of it, even if I don’t see it, I’ll be happy with it.’
Mr. Hurben has now observed nearly half of all the world’s bird species and recorded the vocalisations of nearly 1000. His auditory birding skills are very finely tuned. “Eventually they start to become like human voices,” he said.
Many bird watchers rely heavily on their ears to make identifications. “It’s a living-in-the-moment experience,” wrote Jocelyne, a participant in the Summer Bird Project in Quebec. “I’m totally focused on sounds, especially in the summer when the foliage is often too thick to visually observe birds.”
Another participant, Barbara, who lives in California, writes, “I’m a singer, so the idea and process of training my ear to recognize birds came naturally. I use Merlin to identify birds I haven’t heard before and to verify my guesses.”
Mr. Hurben noted that the Merlin Bird ID App can listen for bird sounds and identify the likely source. But the time-tested method of birding alongside an experienced aural birder was still worth gold, he said.
However you do it, birding by ear can be rewarding. “I really had no choice,” said Mr. Hurben. “You don’t have to have a visual impairment to be able to listen better. You just have to put in the effort.”