Sunday 5 May 2013

International Dawn Chorus Day

Happy International Dawn Chorus Day! A day to celebrate tne natural miracle of birdsong that is most amazing (in northern temperate countries) at this time of year at dawn. I was woken by a blackbird this morning at about 4am and opened the window to listen for a while, before going back to bed. Unfortunately only blackbirds were singing (though their song is amazing and worth getting up at 4am to listen to!). Often here, even in the middle of Edinburgh as we are, our blackbirds are joined by chaffinches, dunnocks, collared doves, woodpigeons and goldfinches.

I went on a dawn chorus walk along the Water of Leith last year and it was wonderful! The woods just rang with the various songs of numerous birds.

If you can't face the thought of getting up really early and going to your local woods, then the evening chorus is often almost asimpressive as the dawn chorus. Certainly when I took my birdwatching class to Figgate Park last Tuesday evening, we were all impressed by the wonderful birdsong.

Some of the group complained that they felt they would never learn all the birdsongs. Well, although part of the aim of the classis to help people learn birdsong, an equally vital part is to help them to learn to appreciate it. Recognising which bird sings which song makes a big difference if you're recording birds for Birdtrack or your local wildlife information centre, but you don't need to be able to tell the difference between the songs of a blackcap and a garden warbler to be able to enjoy the music.

What's your favourite birdsong?

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more

10 comments:

Larry said...

It's not always easy to get up super early to hear the start of the dawn chorus but it's always worth the effort to me. My favorite songs are the songs of the thrushes such as the Wood Thrush.

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

The persistent blackbird's going on all through the night as also The Beatles knew well.

EG CameraGirl said...

There's a chorus being sung in the trees and shrubs around my house too. I agree that it's wonderful!

Draffin Bears said...

Hi Juliet,

What a wonderful sound hearing the dawn chorus of birds. Something I like to do too. Our Tui's make an amazing song.

Enjoy the new week
hugs
Carolyn

Ms Sparrow said...

What a wonderful idea!

Titus said...

Aaargh! They keep on waking me up, I suspect they've got amplifiers in my garden.

Having said that, I had to stay up all night one day last week to get some work finished, and the dawn chorus made a marvellous, and ennervating, backdrop to a coffee break.

I think I like the thrush, though I realise it may be a female blackbird. I suspect they are not black.

Carver said...

I love the sound of birds in the morning. This time of the year I frequently wake up around 4 or 5 to birdsong and then let it lull me back to sleep. I wish I was better at identifying the individual calls. There are a few I know but not that many.

Bill said...

dawn chorus
wake me
when it's over

Just kidding.

RG said...

Song sparrow.

Little Miss Titch said...

I wake up to the dawn chorus every morning its great alarm call!