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alanthealan
05-05-2006, 17:17
Birding by sound seems to be the most productive way of enjoying birds while hiking. What are the top ten songs to set to mermory before an AT hike?

Heater
05-05-2006, 17:19
Birding by sound seems to be the most productive way of enjoying birds while hiking. What are the top ten songs to set to mermory before an AT hike?

Freebird. :p

burger
05-05-2006, 17:37
Haven't hiked a lot of areas yet, but from my experience in the region:

wood thrush
ovenbird
red-eyed vireo
hermit thrush
black-capped chickadee (easiest song in the world to learn)
northern cardinal
indigo bunting
scarlet tanager
eastern wood-pewee
ruffed grouse (learn the sound of a bird exploding from under your feet)

There's a lot of turnover between GA and ME, but this would be a decent starting list.

Chainsaw
05-05-2006, 18:26
Eight Miles High (The long version)

Chip
05-05-2006, 18:34
Indigo Bunting
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Carolina Chickadee
Crow
Eastern Bluebird
Cardinal
Towhee
Blue Jay
Nuthatch
Wren
Pileated Woodpecker
Ruffed Grouse
Wild Turkey
Red Tailed Hawk
Eastern Screech owl

Just to list a few ;) .

Dances with Mice
05-05-2006, 19:21
What are the top ten songs to set to mermory before an AT hike?Bottom Ten has to lead off with the #@$%&* whippoorwills.

rickb
05-05-2006, 23:22
White-throated sparrow! Old Sam Peabody, Peabody.

emerald
05-06-2006, 11:13
Yesterday I had trouble posting and got tired of trying.

Hiking high in the mountains of northern New England with the aroma of balsam and the song of the white-throated sparrow in the air is about as good as life gets.

Whenever I hear their song in the spring and fall as they pass through eastern Pennsylvania, I am reminded of times spent on the Long Trail and the A.T. in New Hampshire and Maine.:)

alanthealan
05-06-2006, 13:16
Thats a good start, I think I'd throw in the Barred Owl, Rose Breasted Gross Beak, Thrasher vs Mocking vs Catbird. Wounder if I can put the Peterson's on MP3? That would be nice.

emerald
05-06-2006, 15:09
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/

Spock
05-06-2006, 16:52
These lists are pretty good. To hear some of these calls, another site is 'New York State Birds', but it covers most of the birds you hear on the AT.
http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~tony/birds/index.html

The recordings are iffy. For example, the clip for the Eastern Towhee doesn't go "Drink your te-e-e-ea!" And that is one of the earliest ones NOBOs will start noticing.

The thrushes, wood and hermit, will start waking you up at 4 a.m., so get to know your alarm clock. Their calls are piercing.

The barred owl goes, "Who cooks for YOU!" with a gutteral YOU. This is the BIG owl you may see perched near the trail who takes off on silent wings.

When you hear a wavering cooing call late at night, it's the screech owl. I don't know why they call that shy whimper a screech. These little owls are no bigger than your fist, so you have to look closely to see their eyes at night.

There are several woodpecker calls that you will hear constantly: pilliated, flickers, red-bellied, esp.

emerald
05-06-2006, 20:27
Birding enthusiasts should not miss their visitor center, a short walk uphill from the Eckville Shelter/Hostel managed by BMECC near Kempton, PA.

http://www.hawkmountain.org

Cookerhiker
05-06-2006, 21:16
White-throated sparrow! Old Sam Peabody, Peabody.

Absolutely! My favorite!:o

emerald
05-06-2006, 21:16
Note Better Together offer

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395740460/104-8433054-4450339?v=glance&n=283155

Tinker
05-07-2006, 06:36
Add the red winged blackbird to that list. It's often heard in lowland areas near water.

Lobo
05-07-2006, 07:03
I finished my hike in Maine July 20, 2000 but then had to return to PA to finish a three day skipped section. The three most common bird songs in Maine at that time were the Winter Wren, White-throated Sparrow & the Dark-eyed Junco. Back in PA Red-eyed Vireos, Indigo Buntings and Towhees were the three most common.

Mr. Clean
05-07-2006, 13:54
Nothing quite like the sound of the different thrushes on a quiet evening sitting quietly in camp.....

woodsy
05-09-2006, 08:12
The Hermit Thrush is the rooster of the woods .

Gray Blazer
05-09-2006, 10:16
The Hermit Thrush is the rooster of the woods .

I don't know my bird songs but I think it's some kind of thrush that I hear in the southern appalachians. It sounds like it's singing in a long tube. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Can you tell me what I'm hearing?

jlb2012
05-09-2006, 10:33
Gray Blazer is it perhaps a Veery : http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/Song/h7560so.wav ?

Gray Blazer
05-09-2006, 11:34
Gray Blazer is it perhaps a Veery : http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/Song/h7560so.wav ?

I couldn't open up that page but I did get to the website. I'm really busy at work right now but I'll research the site later and see if that's it. Thank You.

K-Man
05-09-2006, 14:24
Can anyone recommend a CD that helps one learn Eastern bird calls? I got a frog call CD from the NJ Conserve Wildlife foundation and it was quite informative. I would love to pick up a bird one.

emerald
05-10-2006, 00:01
Click on the link to learn more about A Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern and Central North America. You will be directed to an Amazon.com page where you can buy both Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America, 5th ed. and A Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern and Central North America at a reduced price if both purchased at the same time.

MOWGLI
05-10-2006, 06:47
If I knew someone was definitely going to be able to walk the entire trail, and they only had the capacity to learn 10 songs, these are the ones I'd teach them. Why you ask? Most of these birds are next to impossible to see vocalizing (excepting the Vireo & Sparrow) and they are all pretty spectacular birds - either vocally or visually (or both).

Pileated Woodpecker
Barred Owl
Yellow Billed Cuckoo
Scarlet Tanager
Wood Thrush
Red Eyed Vireo
Raven
Common Loon
Veery
White Throated Sparrow

MOWGLI
05-10-2006, 06:58
Add the red winged blackbird to that list. It's often heard in lowland areas near water.

You'll see and hear these at the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey. I saw a Bobolink in a meadow about a mile south of the Appalachian Trail Metro North Train Station (just north of the big Oak at West Dover Road). That's another cool bird. Eastern Meadowlarks are another grassland bird you might see in that field. Red Winged Blackbirds too.

K-Man
05-10-2006, 09:03
Click on the link to learn more about A Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern and Central North America. You will be directed to an Amazon.com page where you can buy both Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America, 5th ed. and A Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern and Central North America at a reduced price if both purchased at the same time.

Thanks, I missed the CD hiding in there...

Rain Man
05-10-2006, 10:48
If I knew someone was definitely going to be able to walk the entire trail, and they only had the capacity to learn 10 songs, these are the ones I'd teach them. ...

Does anyone know of a bird song web site? When I read AT hiking reports and books, I often read about the hiker hearing this or that bird, as if I should know what it sounds like (and looks like). I'm a total bird-brain when it comes to identifying birds of any sort by any means, I'm sad to say.

But I'd like to correct that. I wondered if there's a web site that shows a picture of each bird while playing that bird's song?

Am I dreaming, being too wishful?

So far, I'd say I could identify a barred owl, a cardinal, and a robin. Maybe a pelican and stork, perhaps. (by sight, NOT by song) That's about it!

Rain:sunMan

.

MOWGLI
05-10-2006, 10:57
Does anyone know of a bird song web site?

This is a good one;
http://www.dlia.org/atbi/species/animals/vertebrates/birds/index.shtml

Many of the northern species won't be represented on this site.

This website:
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/infocenter.html

...will have all of the northern species (Common Loon, Boreal Chickadee, Black Backed Woodpecker, Bicknells Thrush, Spruce Grouse, etc...) but is not as nice IMO.

burger
05-10-2006, 11:18
If you really want to learn your birdsongs, I'd suggest getting the Stokes CDs. They have every species out there, and a decent variety of calls/songs from each species. From there, you can create your own CD with just the species you want to know.

Of course, no CD will ever substitute for experience in the field. If you really want to learn the songs, get out in the woods with a pair of binoculars. Hear a song - find the bird. There's no better way to learn.

MOWGLI
05-10-2006, 11:35
If you really want to learn the songs, get out in the woods with a pair of binoculars. Hear a song - find the bird. There's no better way to learn.

That right there is the best advice on this thread.

emerald
05-10-2006, 16:46
I like your list. I'm still working on mine. I note you have included the common loon.

That was a bird song I would put in the top 10, but there aren't many places you can hear a loon on the A.T. I believe they nest on certain pond near the Kennebec River in Maine, but does anyone know of other places where one can reliably hear loons on the A.T.? They had in the early 1990s visited and could be heard on some ponds in southern Vermont on the Manchester Ranger District of the Green Mountain National Forest.

Hearing a loon is a memorable moment a thruhiker or anyone else should try to incorporate into their outdoor experience. I'd take a short day in order to camp near a location where they can be heard a night.

emerald
05-10-2006, 17:02
That's an experience I would wish upon everyone. Barred owls are the yogis of the bird world or at least they seem to be preoccupied with asking, "Who, who, who, who, who cooks for you?". Cookerhiker, I might reply. I'm not sure, if they would fly away or ask what's for dinner as I've never had the pleasure myself!

MOWGLI
05-10-2006, 17:21
That was a bird song I would put in the top 10, but there aren't many places you can hear a loon on the A.T. I believe they nest on certain pond near the Kennebec River in Maine, but does anyone know of other places where one can reliably hear loons on the A.T.?

I heard my first Loon on the AT just north of ME17. I heard them many times afterward. And yes, they breed on Pierce Pond just south of the Kennebec.

emerald
05-10-2006, 17:46
I knew the name of the pond just south of the Kennebec River, I just wasn't certain I wanted to mention it, but it's probably not a bad idea in this thread. There are many other good reasons someone hiking a longer distance might want to camp at Pierce Pond Shelter.

Maybe Steve might have a contribution, not necessarily directly related to listening to the loons, to promote staying there as opposed to somewhere else?

I believe there are other overnight accomodations nearby too. Maybe TEEJ might want to add something?

Sometimes it's not a bad thing to get off-topic a bit, especially if it adds to the experience of a hiker and is good for loons too?

Alligator
05-10-2006, 17:46
Thats a good start, I think I'd throw in the Barred Owl, Rose Breasted Gross Beak, Thrasher vs Mocking vs Catbird. Wounder if I can put the Peterson's on MP3? That would be nice.
You should be able to rip it like a music CD.