What the Songbirds Know

A tracker reveals the secrets of deep bird language

Jun 20, 2021

*Chickadee Photo by John Yunker on Unsplash*

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HAVE YOU EVER WISHED you could see more animal wildlife on walks— or that birds wouldn't fly off when you get within 20 feet? Or maybe you wondered what that strange bird call meant that caused a flock to scatter into the sky?

Welcome to the tracker's world, where heightened senses pick up more clues. Naturalist, tracker, and bird expert Jon Young writes about how to read these clues in his book, "What the Robin Knows—How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World."

He says we can learn much about what's going on around us by listening to and observing the birds in their natural habitat.

"There's nothing random about birds' awareness and behavior. They have too much at stake—life and death."
Jon Young, What the Robin Knows

Birds are the most vocal part of an animal ecosystem. Dozens of other animal species listen to them and heed their calls. When the fox hears a bird disturbance, he moves in to take hunting advantage while the birds are busy focusing on a raptor circling overhead. Interspecies communication is happening all the time.

"It is never just the robins communicating with the other robins. In the yard and in the trees, it's everyone communicating with (because they are eavesdropping on) everyone else."
Jon Young, What the Robin Knows

Bird movement and calls can tell us when and what type of animal is passing through. The birds react differently to a nest robber bird than they do to a Red-winged hawk overhead or a house cat below. Bird behavior can reveal whether the birds feel threatened or are at ease. It can mirror what's happening in the human world, too, as birds clue into our behaviors and postures. Stressed out people put birds on alert.

"In the wild, the birds are the first creatures who flee an invaded area, and they proclaim the alarm for all to hear. We call this the "bird plow," and it's why Native American scouts could pinpoint the location of invading cavalry troops from two miles away."
Jon Young, What the Robin Knows

Today, most of us go about our lives without consciously listening to birds chatter. Or we may live in cities where the human noises drown out most bird sounds. Yet, even a small increase in bird awareness can bring a deeper connection and more pleasure. We learn from the birds about situational awareness— the ability to "read" an environment.

The practice of learning bird language

I decided to try some of the "deep bird language" techniques from the book. Young says the first step is to find a "sit spot" for 30+ minutes outdoors where you can visit regularly to get to know what's normal for that area. Why 30 minutes? He says it takes about 20 minutes for the disturbance we make as humans to settle down and for the "baseline" normal activity to resume.

I lazily chose my open front porch so that I could have a comfortable seat. The ideal spot is within a 2-minute walk of your home in a discreet location. It can be a park bench, a log on the edge of the woods, or a backyard with a tree.

The goal for this observation is to minimize the area of disturbance we make as humans and to maximize the area of awareness. Another goal is to notice the relationships and interactions between species— birds, animals, and plants.

Here are three questions to ask yourself, what one tracker called the "sacred questions."

What did you observe?
What is this telling you?
What is this teaching you?

Young says to relax and open up your awareness. Cultivate owl vision, a peripheral sight that reaches the edges of your eye. Next, practice deer hearing, listening for subtle or higher/lower-pitched sounds as well as the obvious louder ones. If you want, pay attention to the smells around you, cultivating a coyote nose. And finally, when you are fully relaxed, you may also notice you are sensing/feeling ripples of change without being able to say how it came to you.

My first bird "sit session" showed me a pair of Stellar jays that always seemed to be within about 100 feet of each other, like they had an invisible string connecting them. I found out these members of the Corvid family form long-term, monogamous relationships. The Stellar jays had a variety of calls, from raucous to musical, and were effective sentinels for sending out alarms. I also noticed they preferred to stay under the cover of the trees most of the time.

Now, when I step outside, I scan the lacy redwood branches for a flash of blue— "my" two Stellar jays, who call this neighborhood home. I tossed them a few peanuts the other day. They remember me, and as I spend more quiet time on the outdoor porch, I become part of their baseline/normal habitat, so they come in closer.

I also saw Black-capped chickadees. Jon Young reports that this remarkable little bird has a large repertoire of alarm calls, so other birds and animals pay keen attention to chickadee “talk.”

“Chickadee alarms are more complex than those of many other songbirds. Their alarm for a hawk or owl on the wing is a quiet seet that directs everyone to freeze in place. Their alarm for a hawk or owl perched on a branch, however, is a loud chick-a-dee-dee-dee, with as many as a dozen dees extending the alarm. The more dees, the greater the danger.”
Jon Young, What the Robin Knows

How do we move around birds without driving them away? "Proceed with respect, pause frequently, turn the eyes away from direct confrontation and walk with a relaxed body posture. Ease around birds who are feeding...and try not to disturb those who are singing. We can do better by invoking the golden rule," says Young.

Native and indigenous people worldwide have known the importance of these fine-tuned relationships with nature for thousands of years.

"If one day I see a small bird and recognize it, a thin thread will form between me and that bird... If I go out tomorrow and see and really recognize that same individual small bird again, the thread will thicken and strengthen just a little. Eventually, it will grow into a string, then a cord, and finally a rope. That is what it means to be a Bushman. We make ropes with all aspects of the creation in this way."
Unknown San Bushman (Native South African) quote from "What the Robin Knows"

Chasing a song in the forest

What are some of the main varieties of bird communications we're likely to hear?

Songs
Companion calls
Territorial aggression
Adolescent begging
Alarms

One week in the spring, I heard a distinctive song floating through the forest that haunted me. I did not hear it at other times of the year, so I assumed it was a migrating bird. I wanted to see the bird, identify it, watch it singing, but it eluded me- or maybe I didn't know what to look for.

I finally tracked down the song and the bird. Meet the Hermit Thrush, a bird found in the boreal forests of North America during the breeding season. It may migrate as far as Central America in the winter. Its song sounds like a watery, echoing warble repeated in different keys. It's also been called "The Poet's Bird." Inside a forest, it can sound almost like ventriloquism, coming from different directions— a talent birds also use to deflect predators.

What's a favorite songbird you like? For some, it's the Redwing blackbird or the multi-songed mockingbird. If you don't recognize any songbirds yet, you can learn about one in your region.

Here is a collection of songbird audios by bird name. Do you hear one from your neighborhood?

http://birdlanguage.com/resources/bird-voices-audio-library/species-list/

Having wings doesn't mean a life on the move

One of the surprises I learned is that many birds live in a defined territory most of the time. This limited space allows them to be deeply knowledgeable of their habitat, and it also provides a measure of safety. We all feel more comfortable and safer when "at home."

Losing their habitat/home is not only deeply unsettling for birds and other animals, but it's often life-threatening, as they attempt to move into unknown territory and compete for limited food sources. Since 1970, the songbird population in the United States has declined "dramatically," say scientists, with habitat loss being one of the main drivers. Garden and agricultural pesticide use (neonicotinoids) is another killer of birds (and bees/insects). The U.S. has three billion fewer birds now than 50 years ago.

The spirit of the chickadee

I can't imagine a world without birdsong or birds. These avian beauties arrived on earth tens of millions of years before us—around 60 million years ago. They are a vital part of the ecosystem, controlling pests and pollinating crops for us. They've also inspired stories and myths, music, and inventions. I doubt that we would know how to fly if we hadn't seen birds first.

When we give attention to birds, we gain pleasure and perspective and align ourselves more closely with the natural world. Author Jon Young says, "As awareness grows, appreciation grows too. As appreciation grows, so does empathy."

Awareness and empathy are two attributes that can help us choose to live in ways that better protect the life all around us. A shift towards more empathy for all life forms could help our own species too.

The famous tracker, Tom Brown Jr., sums up what he and others learned from birds.

"We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit."
Tom Brown, Jr.

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