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Bird Song Mnemonics

The following table contains a track listing and an abbreviated mnemonic or description.

It is not a complete listing of the narration following each bird song recording on the audio CD.

Please send your favorite bird song mnemonics to: john@caculo.com

Click here for more info on the CD: Bird Song Ear Training Guide: Who Cooks for Poor Sam Peabody?

Track Title Mnemonic or Description
1 Bittern, American bloonk-a-doonk
Bittern, Least poopoopoopoo
2 Blackbird, Brewer's whiskey
Blackbird, Red-winged konklaree
3 Blackbird, Rusty rusty hinge squeak
Blackbird, Yellow-headed don't you dare
4 Bluebird, Eastern cheer, cheerful charmer
Bobolink long and bubbling
5 Bunting, Indigo fire, fire,  where, where, here, here
Cardinal, Northern what cheer, what cheer, cheer cheer cheer
6 Catbird, Grey meaw
Chat, Yellow-breasted whistles, grunts and rattles
7 Chickadee, Black-capped chickadee-dee-dee and cheeseburger
Chickadee, Boreal check the day
8 Chicken, Greater Prairie blowing into Coke bottle
Coot, American clucks and trumpety call
9 Cowbird, Brown-headed bubble zee
Crane, Sandhill resonant rattle
10 Creeper, Brown high, thin, melodic whistle
Crossbill, White-winged kip kip
11 Crow, American crow or car
Cuckoo, Black billed coo coo coo
12 Cuckoo, Yellow-billed gutteral, rattling
Dickcissel dick, dick, sizzle, sizzle
13 Dove, Mourning Hoo-la-hoop, hoop, hoop
Dove, Rock soft cooing and wing flaps
14 Dowitcher, Short-billed rapid flight song
Duck, Wood what? what? what?
15 Eagle, Bald cree, cree, cree
Egret, Great hoarse croaks
16 Finch, House unrepeated phrases and veer
Finch, Purple paired phrases
17 Flicker, Yellow-shafted clear!
Flycatcher, Acadian pizza
18 Flycatcher, Alder free beer
Flycatcher, Great-crested creep
19 Flycatcher, Least chebek
Flycatcher, Olive-sided quick, three beers!
20 Flycatcher, Willow fitz-bew
Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied    killit
21 Gnatcatcher, Blue-gray thin, weezy notes
Goldfinch, American potato chips and baby
22 Goose, Canada honking and barking
Goshawk, Northern repeated toy horn notes
23 Grackle, Common chack!
Grebe, Pied-billed cow, cow, cow, cowp, cowp
24 Grosbeak, Evening House Sparrow chips
Grosbeak, Rose-breasted metallic chink
25 Grouse, Ruffed rhythmic thumping
Gull, Ring-billed in pain aou, aou and demented laughinig
26 Hawk, Broad-winged tee-teeeeeee
Hawk, Red-shouldered keeyur, keeyur, keeyur
27 Hawk, Red-tailed keeeyurrr
Heron, Black-crowned Night    barking guork
28 Heron, Green skew!
Hummingbird, Ruby-throated   rapid rattle
29 Jay, Blue jay, jay and tweedle-dee
Jay, Grey chuck chuck
30 Junco, Dark-eyed musical trills
Kestrel, American klee, klee, klee
31 Killdeer killdeer killdeer
Kingbird, Eastern cheer, cheerful charmer
32 Kingfisher, Belted uneven clattering
Kinglet, Golden-crowned begins very high
33 Kinglet, Ruby-crowned fast ending,  jidit
Lark, Horned accelerating tinkling warble
34 Loon, Common maniacal yodeling
Mallard quack quack
35 Martin, Purple chew
Meadowlark, Eastern spring of the year
36 Meadowlark, Western flutelike, lower pitch
Merlin kikikikiki
37 Moorhen, Common slowing clucks
Nuthatch, Red-breasted ink, ink, ink
38 Nuthatch, White-breasted wah-wah-wah-wah
Oriole, Baltimore her, here, come right here, dear
39 Oriole, Orchard complex, slurred ending
Owl, Barred who cooks for you, who cooks for you all?
40 Owl, Eastern Screech sustained tremolo
Owl, Great-horned hoo, hoo-hoo, hoo
41 Owl, Long-eared slow single hoots
Owl, Northern Saw-whet repeated whistles
42 Pewee, Eastern Wood peewee
Pheasant, Ring-necked cow cat
43 Phoebe, Eastern feebee
Plover, Semipalmated chewy, chewy
44 Rail, Sora laughlike whinny
Rail, Virginia gidick, gidick, gididick
45 Rail, Yellow typewriter tic-tic-tic, tic-tic
Raven, Common baritone croaks
46 Robin, American cheerily, cheer up
Sandpiper, Baird's rolling trill
47 Sandpiper, Pectoral churts and creeps
Sandpiper, Semipalmated tweedle dee dee
48 Sandpiper, Spotted repeated peets or wees
Sandpiper, Upland unearthly slide whistle
49 Sapsucker, Yellow-bellied nasal meaw
Siskin, Pine zreeee
50 Snipe, Common spooky ascending whinny
Sparrow, American Tree high whistles
51 Sparrow, Chipping mechanical fast trill
Sparrow, Clay-colored zhee zhee zhee
52 Sparrow, Field accelerating whistle
Sparrow, Grasshopper tic-tac to see
53 Sparrow, Henslow's weak insect-like hiccup
Sparrow, House monotonous chirps
54 Sparrow, Lark rapid buzzes, whistles, trills
Sparrow, Lincoln sweet, wren-like
55 Sparrow, Savannah take, take, take it easy
Sparrow, Song maids, maids put on your tea kettle-lettle-lettle
56 Sparrow, Swamp slow, even pitched trill
Sparrow, Vesper here, here, where, where? all together now
57 Sparrow, White-throated poor Sam Peabody
Starling, European wolf-whistle and  mimicry
58 Swallow, Bank buzzes and electric twitters
Swallow, Barn wit wit
59 Swallow, Northern Rough-winged trip trip
Swallow, Tree long notes and twitters
60 Swan, Trumpeter resounding trumpetingt
Swift, Chimney fast chitters
61 Tanager, Scarlet sore-throat robin, chickburr
Teal, Blue-winged soft quacks
62 Tern, Black rubber duck squeaks
Tern, Caspian heron-like scream
63 Tern, Forster's harsh kerrr
Thrasher, Brown drop it, drop it, pick it up, pick it up  
64 Thrush, Hermit why don't you come to me?
Thrush, Swainson's run to your home hear me
65 Thrush, Wood flute-like eee-oh-lay
Titmouse, Tufted peter peter peter
66 Towhee, Eastern drink you tea and towhee
Turkey, Wild gobbles and wing flutter
67 Veery descending  veer veer veer veer and veer! note
Vireo, Bell's cheedle chee chee cheedle chew
68 Vireo, Blue-headed See you, be-seeing ya, so long
Vireo, Philadelphia weaker, higher pitch
69 Vireo, Red-eyed here I am, over here, vireo
Vireo, Warbling when I see you I will squeeze you and I'll squeeze you till you squirt
70 Vireo, Yellow-throated Three-a, three-a
Warbler, Bay-breasted teasy, teasy, tease
71 Warbler, Black and White wheezy, wheezy, wheezy, wheezy
Warbler, Blackburnian zee zee zee tititi zeeee
72 Warbler, Blackpoll ti Ti TI Ti ti
Warbler, Black-throated Blue  I am lazy or beer beer beer beer
73 Warbler, Black-throated trees trees, murmuring trees and zee zee
Warbler, Blue-winged bee buzz
74 Warbler, Canada chip chip dippety chipety dip
Warbler, Cape May seat seat seat
75 Warbler, Cerulean beer beer beer si si zee
Warbler, Chestnut-sided pleased pleased pleased to meet ya
76 Warbler, Connecticut tip tupa teepo tupa teepo or whip it, whip it up, whip it good
Warbler, Golden-winged bee buzz buzz buzz
77 Warbler, Hooded twee twee twee-teeo
Warbler, Kentucky cheree cheree cheree
78 Warbler, Magnolia sweeter, sweeter, sweetest
Warbler, Mourning chury chury  to meet you
79 Warbler, Nashville seebit seebit seebit seeseesee
Warbler, Ovenbird teacher teacher teacher 
80 Warbler, Palm buzzy zzizzizzizzizzizzi
Warbler, Parula Northern zeeee-up and da-da-da-that's all folks!
81 Warbler, Pine slow musical trill
Warbler, Prothonotary sweet sweet sweet
82 Warbler, Redstart seeseeseeit and chiva chiva chiva
Warbler, Tennessee take-take-take-a-swig swig swig chchchchug
83 Warbler, Wilson's chchchchchchew
Warbler, Worm-eating insect-like trill
84 Warbler, Yellow sweet sweet little more sweet
Warbler, Yellowthroat Common  witchety, witchety, witchety
85 Warbler, Yellow-rumped variable trill
Warbler, Yellow-throated seea seea tutu tu-ee
86 Waterthrush, Louisiana see you,  see you, nice to meetya, chao
Waterthrush, Northern nice old ladies don't chew
87 Waxwing, Bohemian lower trill
Waxwing, Cedar very high thin whistle
88 Whip-poor-will repeated whip poor will
Willet descending ha ha ha, ha ha ha
89 Woodcock, American paint
Woodpecker, Downy pick
90 Woodpecker, Hairy peek
Woodpecker, Pileated loud repeated call
91 Woodpecker, Red-bellied sure
Woodpecker, Red-headed low croaks
92 Wren, Carolina chewy chewy chewy
Wren, House rich complex chatter
93 Wren, Marsh reedy rattle
Wren, Sedge chat chit chat chachachachacha
94 Wren, Winter rapid stream of clear notes
Yellowlegs, Greater dear dear dear
95 Yellowlegs, Lesser you you