Analyzing fun bird song spectrograms

Listening to bird songs and watching their spectrograms is a great way to become a better birder.

I try to record new species at every opportunity. Usually I record with my phone but occasionally I’ll record with my standard microphone setup.

I looked through my collection of recordings and have a few clips with fun spectrograms we’re going to check out and analyze.

Morelet's Seedeater

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Click to enlarge

Then begins three groups of downslur notes (in purple) that sound very space laser-y.

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This leads to the bird's final vocalizations of three noise bursts (in orange).

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Parts of this bird's song reminded me of the Northern Cardinal (lasers), but it had some fun, unique qualities to it. I saw this bird in Cancun, Mexico a few times, and it always sang from a thin bough on the top of a tall tree.

Carolina Wren

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Click to enlarge

The Carolina Wren is a loud, omnipresent singer in many places where I live. This bird is often heard above all others as its song echoes through the trees.

Why I love this spectrogram

I like to think of the Carolina Wren's song as 'bouncy'. Checking out its spectrogram, the song follows a wave pattern.

It likes to sing this song in repetitions of four. Various wrens will sing at different speeds, some more laid back, others in a hurry. I’m not sure what the reason is whether it’s a preference or due to external factors such as time of year or weather.

Laughing Gull

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Click to enlarge

While this clip isn’t a song, the call of the laughing bird brings a smile to my face every time.

Why I love this spectrogram

You'll see in the above spectrogram the layers of notes in each call. This type of vocalization is called nasal. I love this bird because it sounds like it’s laughing at passerbys. As it laughs, it throws its head back, and often other birds will call in response.