Enjoy the sounds of summer while they’re here

The bird was teasing me. A unique new song was floating through the springtime air, and I did not know what it was.

Following the sound into the woods, scanning treetops with binoculars, I finally saw a drab little bird on a high branch, clearly the source of the new song. When he flew out from the branch to catch an insect and then returned to his perch, I knew I had him. This was classic behavior for a flycatcher. I turned to my “Bird Songs of Alaska” CD (Leonard J. Peyton and Cornell Lab of Ornithology), and found the bird I had been chasing — the Western Wood-Pewee, a member of the flycatcher family.

Learning bird songs can add a new dimension to appreciating our Alaska birds. With the heavy leaf cover on trees in summer, seeing birds can sometimes be a challenge. Learning the songs of various birds will allow you to appreciate the huge variety of nesting species in Alaska, without even a pair of binoculars. The best way to learn a call is to see the bird singing, as I did with the bird above.

The classic indicator of springtime is the American Robin. They are easy to see, one of the first to arrive north, have a beautiful cheery song and will sing all summer. The Black-capped Chickadee is another common bird, with a call that sounds like its name, chick-a-dee-dee-dee. Also listen for the regular, but less common, Boreal Chickadee; its call reminds me of a Black-capped Chickadee with a cold, lower pitched, slower and more nasal sound.

If near a lake, listen for the haunting warbling calls of loons. Their tremolo calls can carry for more than a mile, and many of their other songs are also quite loud, particularly when echoing over a lake. Loons do not usually call loudly when flying, but will greet a mate when returning to a lake, give threat calls to warn off predators and seemingly just howl for the pure pleasure of it.

In mid-summer, Sandhill Cranes are flightless by design; while their chick is downy, the diligent parents stay grounded to teach and protect it. They will molt many of their flight feathers during this time, too, growing fresh ones for fall migration. Watch and listen for them near open fields and ponds. The sound of a pair of cranes in their duet of honking mating or bonding calls can carry more than two miles. By fall, Sandhill Cranes will be flying high overhead during migration; they are nearly impossible to see against the sky, but a flock can make quite a ruckus as they pass overhead.

The most commonly seen and heard gull away from the coasts is the Mew Gull. Listen for its high-pitched laughing or “mewing” call. Then begin to actually listen to all the gulls around, especially near the coast, and notice different calls. Gulls are sometimes confusing to separate by plumage, the immature birds being the hardest, but their calls will differ.

The Common Raven with a new family is a delight to watch. Look for groups of four to six ravens often flying seemingly randomly around in one area. They could be parents teaching their young the intricacies of flight and sound. The parents have the raven’s typical repertoire of more than 30 calls. The young will only manage a couple of harsh caws, but will be very vocal with their limited vocabulary.

As summer progresses, bird sounds will change. There is a cacophony of sound in spring as each new species arrives from its wintering grounds and sets up housekeeping to find a mate and raise young. When the eggs or chicks are in the nest, parents often reduce their noisemaking to quiet bonding songs, so as to not draw the attention of predators. The young at this time can often be heard making begging calls for food, if you are close enough to a nest to hear. By late summer with the young out of the nest and learning the ways of a wild bird, the sounds will once more increase as family groups stay connected by calls. Then suddenly in the fall, those wonderful sounds become scarce as migrants head south for the winter. We are left to appreciate the songs of those few hardy species that can survive an Alaska winter.

Nancy Wade is member of the Mat-Su Birders and Alaska WildBird Rehabilitation Center. Send birding questions for her column on birding to alaskaflamingo@yahoo.com.