Listening to a Continent Sing

The chickadees at high elevations here in Virginia are often black-capped chickadees, and their typical hey-sweetie gives them away. Two birds are singing, one in the foreground, one in the background, the background bird also calling chick-a-dee-dee, the slower version that is again typical of black-capped chickadees, not Carolina chickadees.

Background

The daytime song of a Blackburnian warbler actually dominates this recording (as at 0:10), and other background birds are an American robin and northern parula, but it is the black-capped chickadees that are featured. The patter of raindrops can be heard throughout, with the rain intensifying at about a minute, when the chickadees have receded into the distance but the Blackburnian Warbler sings on.

Photo by John Van de Graaff

Photo by John Van de Graaff