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Birds That Say Their Own Names

June 30, 2022
Sometimes they say it over and over!
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Common Poorwill, male Expand Image
© Ken-ichi Ueda

Some birds, such as the Northern Bobwhite, take their names from their songs or vocalizations: "Bobwhite! Bobwhite!" The Killdeer is another bird named for its song: "Kill-dee, kill-dee, kill-dee." There are others. "Poorwill, poorwill, poorwill" calls this Common Poorwill. This bird is the cousin of the Whip-poor-will, another bird that calls its own name.

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BirdNote®

Birds That Say Their Own Names

Written by Frances Wood

This is BirdNote!
[Call of the Common Poorwill]
Ever wonder how birds were named? Some, such as the Wilson’s Snipe, were named for people; others for a distinguishing physical characteristic — like the Spotted Towhee; and some for geographic locations, like the California Quail. In a few cases, the bird’s song or vocalization is incorporated into its name. Let’s listen to a few birds that call their names.
[Black-capped Chickadee call]
Do you recognize this “chick-a-dee, dee, dee” call? [Repeat call.] That’s the Black-capped Chickadee.
How about the “bobwhite?” [Northern Bobwhite call] The Northern Bobwhite. Listen again. [Repeat call.]
And this bird? [Killdeer call]
The Killdeer is a common shorebird that often uses this alarm call when predators approach its nest. [Killdeer call.]
And finally, a bird you might hear in the open, arid areas of the West and Midwest [Common Poorwill call].
It’s the Common Poorwill, a nocturnal hunter of insects. The easiest way to locate this species is to listen for its call. [Common Poorwill call.]
To listen to these calls more closely, begin at our website, BirdNote.org. I’m Mary McCann.

###

Calls of the birds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Black-capped Chickadee recorded by R.S. Little; Killdeer and Common Poorwill by G.A. Keller; Bobwhite by P.P. Kellogg.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2014 Tune In to Nature.org     July 2016/2020 / June 2022    Narrator: Mary McCann

ID#072805namesKPLU                         names-01b

Frances Wood
Writer
Mary McCann
Narrator
Tags: birdwatching by ear

Related Resources

Eastern Whip-poor-will – Learn more at Audubon Guide to North American BirdsCommon Poorwill - More at All About BirdsLearn more about the Macaulay LibraryKilldeer – More at All About Birds

More About These Birds

Common Poorwill (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii)

Phalaenoptilus nuttallii

Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus)

Colinus virginianus

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

Charadrius vociferus

Eastern Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferus)

Caprimulgus vociferus

Sights & Sounds

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Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

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