Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: New Zealand Bellbird
A New Zealand Bellbird perched on a flowering branch, the bird's face lightly speckled with pollen and its red eyes shining
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • Daily Shows
    • Threatened
    • Grouse
    • BirdNote Presents
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
    • Success Stories
  • About
    • The BirdNote Story
    • The Team
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • Contact Us
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

Early Spring Songs (Bay-area, California version)

Subscribe to the Podcast
Download
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
© Tom Grey

In March, we welcome the lengthening days and the renewal of bird song. Among the earliest spring singers in California are American Robin (left), Fox Sparrow, and Wrentit. Listen to the songs of these birds, plus thousands of others at Cornell University's Macaulay Library website. Learn more about these early spring songsters at Cornell's All About Birds.

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®

Early Spring Songs
for California (as heard on KWMR, Pt Reyes)

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote! 
 [Wrentit song, repeated]
 In March, we welcome the lengthening days. As storms and gray of winter give way to spring, nothing freshens the new season like the renewal of bird song. [Wrentit song, repeated]
 This month, three groups of birds tune up their musical voices.
 First, and among the earliest spring singers, are birds that reside in our area year round. One such bird is the Wrentit, whose bouncing, whistled song echoes from nearly every brushy hillside along the California coast. [Wrentit song, repeated]
 Second, we hear the early spring voices of birds that stopped over here for the winter, like the lilting, whistled notes of this Fox Sparrow [Sooty Fox Sparrow song]. The Fox Sparrow will fly north for the summer to sing and nest in the thickets of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. [Sooty Fox Sparrow song]
 And the third chorus of voices belongs to birds now migrating from farther south, like many of our early spring American Robins. Some robins will stay to nest in California, and others will continue on. [American Robin song] Some will migrate far enough north to catch up with those Fox Sparrows departed to Alaska, making for a lovely duet. [American Robin song and Sooty Fox Sparrow song]
 Tune up your ears anytime, when you come to our website, birdnote.org. I’m Frank Corrado.
###

Call of the provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Wrentit song recorded by G.A. Keller.  Sooty Fox Sparrow song recorded by L.F. Peyton.  American Robin song recorded by W.L. Hershberger. 
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2008 Tune In to Nature.org

ID# 2008-03-03-spring-04-KWMR

Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Frank Corrado
Narrator
Tom Grey
Photographer
Support More Shows Like This
Tagsmigration vocalization

Related Resources

Listen to the full catalog of bird songs at the Macaulay LibraryLearn more about Wrentit at Cornell's All About BirdsMore about American Robin at Cornell's All About BirdsMore about Fox Sparrow at Cornell's All About Birds

More About These Birds

Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca)

Passerella iliaca

Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata)

Chamaea fasciata

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

Turdus migratorius

Sights & Sounds

Related Field Notes

May 8, 2020

Conserving Cerulean Warbler Habitat

By Rainforest Alliance
Did you know that the United States shares many migratory songbird species with our ne
October 11, 2013

Greater Yellowlegs gets a fish

By Gregg Thompson
Gregg Thompson spotted this Greater Yellowlegs near the Skagit Wildlife Area in western Washingto

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.

Support BirdNote

  • Daily Shows
  • Field Notes
  • BirdNote Presents
  • Sights & Sounds
  • About BirdNote
  • Contact BirdNote
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy