November / 2020 - Michael Ryan
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Around
April and May the outpouring of birdsong was often commented on
with people saying they had never been so conscious of it before
while others said it seemed much more prevalent and actually louder
than normal. Of course back then the birds were singing because
those spring months are the optimum time for birdsong as the male
bird is singing to attract or retain a mate and to let other male
birds of his species know he owns the territory he was singing in.
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white
crowned sparrow for decades so they already had data at hand to see
if and how the birds song had changed. Previously they’d found
that city sparrows sang more loudly, but with a much more limited
range, than their country cousins. And the shutdown presented an unprecedented
opportunity for the researchers to see if those urban birds changed
their tune. This year’s research found that the sparrows weren’t
singing louder but were actually singing a more variable song at a
lower frequency. During normal times the bird would have
to sing louder to make and would sacrifice quality for volume, but
since it did not have to compete with traffic and other noise it was
able to delivera richer sound. |
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Robins are uncommon among song birds as they defend their territory through autumn and winter and of course singing is a important part of that defence to let other robins know who’s boss in that particular garden or area of woodland. The robin’s winter song is very subdued compared to their exuberant song in springtime, when they’ll be singing to impress a mate and to tell other male robins to keep away. The term wistful is sometimes used to describe robin song during the winter months. In my old Collins dictionary wistful is defined as ‘pensive; sadly contemplative; earnestly longing; thoughtful’ and indeed on a grey cold day in mid winter, sadly contemplative seems very appropriate to describe the robin’s tune when it has a wispy dutiful tone to it as opposed to his cheerful spring song but it’s song is always lovely to hear whatever the time of the year. |
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As
far as I know nobody is quite sure why Song Thrushes frequently sing
during the winter but they can often be heard from early November.
Unlike robins they don’t seem to be guarding a territory as
they’ll often have moved elsewhere by springtime. One theory speculated is that the birds singing are juvenile males practicing their song in advance for the forthcoming breeding season. I’d be a bit sceptical about another suggestion that they might be guarding crops of berries. Years ago during winter when I used walk the dog over Killiney Hill before sunrise I’d be heartened to hear a song thrush singing through the darkness. Oddly enough, back then there were very few song thrushes nesting in the park and when we had Dawn Chorus outings on Killiney Hill they would be conspicuously absent. The one I used to hear on those dark mornings would be singing from a garden across the road from the entrance where the coffee shop is now. Thankfully in recent years they seem to be doing better and the woods ring out to the song thrushes song in spring. |