Morning Chatter

Time: 6:15-6:30 a.m.

Weather Report: Cloudy, 34°F, 68% Humidity, Winds: SSW @ 13 mph; feels like 28°F.

Location: The front yard of my upstate New York home, in an elm(?) tree directly outside the front window and beside an unenclosed porch.

Bird Species/Markings/Features: Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

Sights/Sounds/Activities: Waking up this morning, I came downstairs into the living room and sat quietly on the couch as our dog came and lay down on my foot. As I sat there trying to decide if I wanted to listen to the news this morning, I heard a sound, or more specifically, a call, that I had not heard in a few months. Although I was inside, I could clearly make out a "purty-purty-purty-purty" bird call, but could not remember from what species it might be emanating. I remember some of the common birds that populate our neighborhood: crackle, sparrow, finch, mourning dove...?

I opened the blinds in an attempt to visually ID the bird I could not ID by its call, but saw nothing. I assume that the bird was perched on the tree in an area which was higher than me present current position would allow me to view. (Later in the morning, while going for a walk, I did see a Northern Cardinal on the lower branches of the tree, but failed to snap a pic in time.)

As I set about trying to figure out what bird was delivering the call, it stopped as quickly as it had started. The "purty-purty-purty-purty" still in my memory, I then picked up the very familiar "caw-caw, caw-caw" of what I immediately recognized as an American Crow.

Notes: During the summer months, I would try to use a CD copy of Birds of New York Audio CD Booklet by Stan Tekiela, to make an audio ID. I was not very god at it, put it was fun to both try and make our dog nuts as she would wonder where the birds are!

This morning I tried a new resource, eNature: America's Wildlife Resource, an on-line library of field guides (birds, animals, trees...) operated by the National Wildlife Federation. This guide was especially helpful because you could desegregate the information my region and zip code. Additionally it offered fairly detailed "translations" of calls and songs, presenting them as words which when pronounced phonetically gave a sense of how the bird would sound when it was producing the call.

After a few moments, I found our bird:

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Voice: Rich what-cheer, cheer, cheer; purty-purty-purty-purty or sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet. Also a metallic chip... These birds often come to feeders in winter.

It was incredibly pleasant to hear another bird back in the neighborhood or to be in the head space to listen for one...