birdnote q&a: the song sparrow, often ready with a tune

BETWEEN SHOVELFULS OF SNOW, a song. Not an alarm call, but a real bird song, up the path in range to catch my ear, but not so close that I could see the songster. How can that be, in February in the Northeast; don’t many, or even most, songbirds lose the ability to sing in winter?

Yes, said my friend Ellen Blackstone of the BirdNote public-radio program, who has been the tour guide for our ongoing series of bird stories here on the blog. (Browse all past installments.)

The part of the bird’s brain that’s used for singing shrinks to lighten the bird’s body mass in the offseason, she explained (and here’s the link to hear more on that). In fall and winter, there is no mating ritual; no need to stake out a territory.

Many birds can still sound alarm calls in the offseason (like the consistently loudmouth blue jay), but not sing.

But then Ellen had an idea: “Maybe it was a song sparrow—what did it sound like?” she asked. The song sparrow, she explained, was a possible exception to the offseason songless norm. Research as far back as 1947 cites its potential for “dawn singing on clear, cold mornings in January and February.”

Ah, if only I could remember. You might recall: I’m not too good at birding by ear. No positive ID here, because I haven’t actually seen a song sparrow lately (just white-throated sparrows, along with these other birds this winter).

But be assured that I’ll be listening, and watching, on these brighter second-half-of-winter days.

more song sparrow facts, from birdnoteThe song sparrow is one of few such widespread backyard birds, and also one that helped shape field of ornithology. Sparrows kick, robins pick. Find out what that means. Like other songbirds, young male song sparrows learn to sing from adult Read more on awaytogarden.com