Listening to a Continent Sing

A warbling vireo sings from the treetop beside the road in Eddyville. Feel the variety in his songs, the second different from the first, the third from the second, the fourth from the third, and on and on. Feel, too, the undulating nature of his song, how he rises and falls on his three-second roller coaster, though the hills and valleys are different in each song. In fine warbling vireo fashion, he ends every song on an emphatic high SQUIRT!--as in the mnemonic If I SEES you, I will SEIZE you, and I'll SQUEEZE you till you SQUIRT!

You can compare the songs of this eastern warbling vireo with those of his western cousins: WY-242, OR-325, OR-365.

Background

Mourning dove, downy woodpecker whinny (at 0:11), northern cardinal, house finch, European starling, red-bellied woodpecker, chimney swift, yellow-billed cuckoo

Photo by Wil Hershberger

Photo by John Van de Graaff