I really enjoyed the "what's the two-note bird sound" (chickadee) thread on the Michigan list! I think it is the first time I saw someone post the actual notes. What particularly impressed me was the number of people who pulled out instruments to hear the notes once the notes were identified. Oh, THAT note! Yes it is a . (I am always amazed by people who know what a note really is - perfect pitch!) As one who still cannot get grounded on bird sounds by reading written descriptions in books, I finally figured out that the books also need to give pitch (the note) and duration (as well as any rising/falling nuances). A musical score for birds! The clincher came last year when I finally heard the Eastern Towhee's "Drink your teeeee". Just reading a phrase in a book did nothing for me. Everyone uses the phrase, so I thought I finally heard it. I remember asking the list about something I had heard that did this, and learned a Robin was drinking tea as part of its repertoire. Finally after hearing the towhee I knew what it all meant. So different! I now have my own "score" to go with the words. Also I guess we need to add notes about other characteristics. For example, "peent" is really a buzzy/buggy or nasal sound ("pzeeent"). Even with pitch and duration, you would not be able to play the note without having the right instrument (think kazoo here). So. does anyone know of any references to bird sounds with actual musical notes accompanying the written phrase? I would love a compendium where I could look up the written phrase describing a sound and get an idea of the pitch, duration, and instrumental factors as well. Hey! If nothing exists, it would make a great thesis - and also certainly would be a contender for a viral video. ;) I'm kind of kidding, but be sure to send me any royalties for my idea and recognize me in the credits! Another interesting side note is that last year I corresponded with Ryan Steiner (Ohio list) about a note he posted. He had written an interesting paper on chickadee sounds. Here is a short quote from his original note: "I proceeded to take recordings of the Black-capped Chickadee fee-bee song, several of which I recorded here in Ohio. I analyzed these recordings and found a statistically significant difference in songs sung from coniferous and deciduous trees, with the songs sung in conifers being higher in pitch than those sung from deciduous trees. More interestingly, there was a clustering pattern in the pitch of the songs when they were graphed. This may indicate that chickadees can assess the density of the tree around them (taking in factors such as where they are on the branch: the middle as opposed to the end of a branch) and then pick a song pitch from a set of pitches that will allow them to be best heard." So ultimately we will possibly need to know the habitat as well. (Oh, it's so complex!). But for now, just give me a starting reference with at least normal pitch and duration. I can tune up my old guitar to try to play a bird tune. Or maybe just find my pitch pipe. I also want to acknowledge Macklin Smith's great reply (May 25, 2010: see mich-listers archives) to a note I posted last year about single note calls. He suggested I try to vocalize the written word while feeling the vocal chords. Yes, it works! (Now that would be a great viral video as well!) This is what led me to "pzeeent" vs. "peent". He addressed duration and "instrument" very well, but not the pitch. I note that this was for calls which are harder than songs to discriminate in text. Just ramblin' . yet, very interesting! PS, Just as I was going to hit enter, I saw the note from Thierry. YES! The instrument is important as I indicate here! Bagpipe indeed! J Maybe that is the goose secret? "Dr. Bob" Setzer Streamwood Estates, Rochester Hills (Crooks & Hamlin), Oakland County "Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day." Teaching a man to "bird" is much harder! Blog: <http://drbobsbirdblog.blogspot.com/> http://drbobsbirdblog.blogspot.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]