Tiny titans of song

As we turn the corner into May, many of our breeding songbirds are arriving from points south, while others are passing through on their way north. Still others have been around all winter but are really warming up their vocal chords now.

It’s amazing how some of the smallest birds have some of the biggest voices. A common year-round resident here, the Carolina wren, is less than 6 inches long — the length of my daughter’s hand — and weighs in at three-quarters of an ounce. Yet its song is a ringing series of repeated triplets, tea-ket-tle, tea-ket-tle, tea-ket-tle!, heard in backyards throughout our region right now.

Another diminutive musician is a recent arrival, the chipping sparrow — though its song is not exactly musical.  Rather, it is more of a mechanical, staccato trill, a little like the sound of a sewing machine. Similar in length to the Carolina wren, the chipping sparrow weighs even less, under half an ounce.

“Chippies†sing incessantly from the treetops from now through summer. When they come down to the ground to feed, they are visually recognized by their overall grayish-brown coloration, with a bright rusty cap and a black line through the eye.

Smaller still is the American goldfinch, which commonly winters in our area but, like many other songbirds, is beginning to join the spring chorus. This brightly colored bird is not as loud as the others, but what it lacks in volume it makes up for in stamina and variety. Its cheery, canary-like song of warbles and twitters is an indelible mark of the season.

My personal favorite among spring singers is, at a mere 4 inches, one of our tiniest songbirds, the ruby-crowned kinglet. Furtive and rather skittish, with a rather drab gray plumage, it can be difficult to see; though when spotted, its nervous habit of rapidly flicking its wings gives it away.

 But, oh, what a song!  You have to listen hard at first, because it begins with some high, squeaky notes, but within seconds it cascades into a burst of chanting, whistled triplets, amazingly audible coming from such a speck of a bird. Listen also for the kinglet’s alarm call, a sharp, two-note chit-chit.

 Most ruby-crowned kinglets are part of the tide of arriving migrants, although they are relatively short-distance voyagers, most having spent the winter in the southern United States. This is a wonderful time of year to “bird by ear,†and if you learn a few of the familiar songs, you can start tuning in to the sounds of newly arriving songbirds joining the chorus, day by day.

Fred Baumgarten is a naturalist and writer. He can be reached at fredb58@sbcglobal.net. His blog is at thatbirdblog.blogspot.com.