Listening to a Continent Sing

Here is a dawn-singing Canada warbler, breathing fire, energized like no other songbird I know.

In this brief, two-minute selection, he chips and sings incessantly, all airtime filled with his presence. Half a dozen chips are followed by a sputtering, explosive song, then more chips, then another song, on and on, some songs full and complete, some just fragments, 15-16 of them each minute, so that one never can know exactly what is coming next.

(My Mt. Rogers, Virginia, recording was poor, so I am substituting one of my favorites from Massachusetts.)

Background

Veery, drumming of a hairy woodpecker, another Canada warbler.

Photo by John Van de Graaff