Listening to a Continent Sing

the companion website to the book by Donald Kroodsma

BULLOCK'S ORIOLE OR-190

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, southeastern Oregon

June 11, 5:06 a.m.

Sunrise at 5:14 a.m.

Download the Recording

From the border of Kansas and Colorado west to the Pacific, it is the Bullock's oriole that replaces the Baltimore.

Here is a Bullock's oriole, unmistakable by his typical chatter, but his songs seem so tentative and playful, almost as if he's a young bird. But when he sings, each song is repeated in the precise kind of fashion expected from an adult. So I conclude that he's an adult, but that I just need to get to know Bullock's orioles better so I can understand better what I'm hearing.

Background

Willow flycatcher (western variety), yellow warbler (still chipping between songs during dawn singing), song sparrow, red-winged blackbird, American coot (2:00-2:05), pied-billed grebe (2:10).

buor-22

Photo by Brian L. Sullivan

amco-1

Photo by John Van de Graaff