7 ms·

The Healing Power of Birdsong

64 points by tintinnabula 6y ago

BrianB 6y ago
I've been watching my neighborhood birds for a while now and they indeed have individual personalities. It's pretty cool to know for example when a neighborhood cat is approaching, how it's approaching (stalking or walking?), and even which cat it is all because the birds communicate it to each other. If you're interested in diving deeper into this bird world, I'd recommend starting with "What the Robin Knows" by Jon Young https://www.amazon.com/What-Robin-Knows-Secrets-Natural/dp/054400230X https://www.amazon.com/What-Robin-Knows-Secrets-Natural/dp/0... Jon still does a lot of programs and workshops and research and it can be a fascinating rabbit hole to dive into.
- wsinks 6y ago
  Thanks for the recommendation! I love listening to the bird sounds in my backyard. I'll check this out.
- zxexz 6y ago
  Wow, so cool to see someone reference Jon Young on HN. I was about 12 or so when was gifted a copy (is that an appropriate term for a cassette pack?) of Seeing Through Native Eyes[0], which I devoured. That led me to his book Advanced Bird Language[1], which blew my adolescent mind. I still have both, and a lot of the material has really stuck with me. [0] http://8shields.org/store/audio-products/seeing-through-native-eyes-with-jon-young/ http://8shields.org/store/audio-products/seeing-through-nati... [1] http://8shields.org/advanced-bird-language-with-jon-young/ http://8shields.org/advanced-bird-language-with-jon-young/
every 6y ago
The mockingbirds[0] are starting to show up in numbers. Quite the repertoire... [0]https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Mockingbird/overview https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Mockingbird/ove...
- grasshopperpurp 6y ago
  In the morning and early evening, there's a window where it seems like all the mockingbirds are singing from the various canopies, and it creates such delicate walls of sound. With the transitioning light, it's about as good as it gets. Once the blue jays start squawking, you know the chorus is nearing its end.
lerie1982 6y ago
tldr; it's an article about William Henry Hudson
- dorkwood 6y ago
  Who is that?
anitil 6y ago
Highly recommend the Sound Escapes podcast by birdnote. It takes you to multiple locations where you can (among other sounds) listen to the bird calls. https://www.birdnote.org/blog/2019/07/sound-escapes https://www.birdnote.org/blog/2019/07/sound-escapes
- pwdisswordfish2 6y ago
  Gordon Hempton is legendary. I will always remember him for attaching his mics to a mannequin head.
squatchd 6y ago
I've found the combination of birdNET and Merlin out of the Cornell Ornithology lab to be pretty awesome for learning about the local birds on the fly. Pretty awesome work coming out of that group.
- mongol 6y ago
  Agree on birdNET. It is golden, makes it so much easier to learn.
- jrace 6y ago
  birdNET and Merlin are some of the most used apps on my phone, amazing how well the birdNET would identify a bird even with background traffic noise. If it wasn't for that app I would have never realized I was on an actual snipe hunt. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wilsons_Snipe/overview https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wilsons_Snipe/overview The 'winnowing' sound they make was driving us nuts trying to identify the bird.
mongol 6y ago
I am interested in bird watching as a hobby. An "unfortunate" but intrinsic aspect of it is that since bird species varies between continents, some knowledge is less applicable. When I bought my first book about bird songs in English I did not realize that, it mostly mentioned American species that are not present in Europe. I did not learn much applicable knowledge from it. Another example, in the /r/birding subreddit people are mainly discussing about American birds. Obviously, this is natural and nothing to really complain about. But it often requires to "read between the lines" to understand the location context in a discussion, especially when you are new.
- sdenton4 6y ago
  The Sound Approach to Birding is a bit more European. (it was my first book on bird song, though I live in the US... So I feel your pain.) It has a lot of good general knowledge, and then Merlin and Xeno Canto can help from there.
- gadders 6y ago
  This book: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Simon-Barnes/Birdwatching-with-Your-Eyes-Closed-Enhanced--An-Introduction-to-birdsong/13995451 https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Simon-Barnes/Birdwatching-wit... Comes with a free podcast to help you learn UK bird song.
sdenton4 6y ago
Just a small advert... We've just launched a Kaggle competition on birdsong identification this week! https://www.kaggle.com/c/birdsong-recognition/discussion https://www.kaggle.com/c/birdsong-recognition/discussion One of the organizers wrote the BirdNET app... Improvements can help both the app and a lot of passive ecosystem monitoring projects. It's also a great excuse to listen to birdsong!

64 points by tintinnabula 6y ago

I've been watching my neighborhood birds for a while now and they indeed have individual personalities. It's pretty cool to know for example when a neighborhood cat is approaching, how it's approaching (stalking or walking?), and even which cat it is all because the birds communicate it to each other. If you're interested in diving deeper into this bird world, I'd recommend starting with "What the Robin Knows" by Jon Young https://www.amazon.com/What-Robin-Knows-Secrets-Natural/dp/054400230X https://www.amazon.com/What-Robin-Knows-Secrets-Natural/dp/0... Jon still does a lot of programs and workshops and research and it can be a fascinating rabbit hole to dive into.

wsinks 6y ago
Thanks for the recommendation! I love listening to the bird sounds in my backyard. I'll check this out.
zxexz 6y ago
Wow, so cool to see someone reference Jon Young on HN. I was about 12 or so when was gifted a copy (is that an appropriate term for a cassette pack?) of Seeing Through Native Eyes[0], which I devoured. That led me to his book Advanced Bird Language[1], which blew my adolescent mind. I still have both, and a lot of the material has really stuck with me. [0] http://8shields.org/store/audio-products/seeing-through-native-eyes-with-jon-young/ http://8shields.org/store/audio-products/seeing-through-nati... [1] http://8shields.org/advanced-bird-language-with-jon-young/ http://8shields.org/advanced-bird-language-with-jon-young/

every 6y ago

The mockingbirds[0] are starting to show up in numbers. Quite the repertoire... [0]https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Mockingbird/overview https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Mockingbird/ove...

grasshopperpurp 6y ago
In the morning and early evening, there's a window where it seems like all the mockingbirds are singing from the various canopies, and it creates such delicate walls of sound. With the transitioning light, it's about as good as it gets. Once the blue jays start squawking, you know the chorus is nearing its end.

lerie1982 6y ago

tldr; it's an article about William Henry Hudson

dorkwood 6y ago
Who is that?

anitil 6y ago

Highly recommend the Sound Escapes podcast by birdnote. It takes you to multiple locations where you can (among other sounds) listen to the bird calls. https://www.birdnote.org/blog/2019/07/sound-escapes https://www.birdnote.org/blog/2019/07/sound-escapes

pwdisswordfish2 6y ago
Gordon Hempton is legendary. I will always remember him for attaching his mics to a mannequin head.

squatchd 6y ago

I've found the combination of birdNET and Merlin out of the Cornell Ornithology lab to be pretty awesome for learning about the local birds on the fly. Pretty awesome work coming out of that group.

mongol 6y ago
Agree on birdNET. It is golden, makes it so much easier to learn.
jrace 6y ago
birdNET and Merlin are some of the most used apps on my phone, amazing how well the birdNET would identify a bird even with background traffic noise. If it wasn't for that app I would have never realized I was on an actual snipe hunt. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wilsons_Snipe/overview https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wilsons_Snipe/overview The 'winnowing' sound they make was driving us nuts trying to identify the bird.

mongol 6y ago

I am interested in bird watching as a hobby. An "unfortunate" but intrinsic aspect of it is that since bird species varies between continents, some knowledge is less applicable. When I bought my first book about bird songs in English I did not realize that, it mostly mentioned American species that are not present in Europe. I did not learn much applicable knowledge from it. Another example, in the /r/birding subreddit people are mainly discussing about American birds. Obviously, this is natural and nothing to really complain about. But it often requires to "read between the lines" to understand the location context in a discussion, especially when you are new.

sdenton4 6y ago
The Sound Approach to Birding is a bit more European. (it was my first book on bird song, though I live in the US... So I feel your pain.) It has a lot of good general knowledge, and then Merlin and Xeno Canto can help from there.
gadders 6y ago
This book: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Simon-Barnes/Birdwatching-with-Your-Eyes-Closed-Enhanced--An-Introduction-to-birdsong/13995451 https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Simon-Barnes/Birdwatching-wit... Comes with a free podcast to help you learn UK bird song.

sdenton4 6y ago

Just a small advert... We've just launched a Kaggle competition on birdsong identification this week! https://www.kaggle.com/c/birdsong-recognition/discussion https://www.kaggle.com/c/birdsong-recognition/discussion One of the organizers wrote the BirdNET app... Improvements can help both the app and a lot of passive ecosystem monitoring projects. It's also a great excuse to listen to birdsong!