In one week, song sparrows will start singing in every neighborhood. American robins will do likewise. About three weeks later, more songbirds will return and offer up their own melodies.
Until then, we’ll just have to listen to a bunch of weird bird sounds.
Birds make noises for many reasons. This time of year, the main reason is all about mating, either wooing a partner or declaring a territory. Some of these noises could hardly be called songs.
It takes a lot of imagination to describe an owl hoot as a song, but they’re out there hooting up a storm this time of year. Owls nest early, and they’ve been engaged in romantic behavior for weeks already.
Three resident owl species are part of the nocturnal chorus in March.
Great horned owls do a deep, five-note call that supposedly sounds like “Who’s awake? Me, too.” They can be surprisingly urban, haunting backyards where least expected, more often heard than seen.
They are comfortable near people, because they prey on animals that live near people. Skunks are a favorite meal. And they are welcome to take as many rats as they can find. I don’t mind.
Barred owls are famous for a longer, easily-recognized phrase that sounds like “Who hoots for you? Who hoots for you-all?” Barred owls are shyer and like to stay in the woods, often hunting along woodland edges.
Northern saw-whet owls are tiny and secretive. They mostly hide in the woods, but they can be found in developed areas wherever there is sufficient cover. It’s a little easier to overlook the hoot of this owl, since it is unlike the other two. It’s a long series of high-pitched toots.
I was surprised to hear a northern saw-whet owl somewhere beyond my porch in mid-February. Most leave Maine by winter, returning early in spring. Some don’t leave, and this one probably didn’t.
American woodcocks return early in spring. Most are back now, and many are calling. They start at sunset, and go for about an hour. They typically resume calling just before dawn.
Woodcocks inhabit woodland edges, usually adjacent to wet meadows. They can breed in suburban areas wherever that habitat exists. It’s not hard to know when they’re around, since their loud, repeated “peents” can be heard at quite a distance.
The Wilson’s snipe is a cousin to the woodcock. It shares the same comical facial feature — a long, sensitive bill for probing in mud.
While woodcocks look for muddy areas adjacent to forest, snipes inhabit freshwater wetlands. They return early, often when ice still covers the marsh.
Not long after their arrival, snipes take to the air in a mating display amplified by a weird, jungle-like hu-hu-hu sound, which definitely cannot be classified as a song. The winnowing sound is made by the wind whistling through the stiff tail feathers of a flying snipe.
Snipes soar high in the air during their nocturnal courtship dance, so they are often difficult to spot. But you’ll hear them circling well above the treetops, so it’s easy to identify what’s making that racket.
Anyone living near a snipe-filled wetland will also note their sharp call that sounds like “jick” or “keek.” Snipes are silent most of the year, but they make up for it in spring when they can be quite noisy.
Tree swallows are the earliest swallows to return. I expect them around Easter, which this year is April 20. Courtship begins almost immediately, but their distinctive twittering is hardly an aria.
Fortunately, they do it in plain sight, caring little if anybody is watching them. Since they have a particular fondness for birdhouses, they are comfortable around people.
Woodpeckers play a huge role in the non-song spring cacophony. They drum year-round, but do it much more often during mating season. Resident woodpeckers pair up in winter, and their back-and-forth communication goes on for months.
Hairy and downy woodpeckers are familiar to all backyard birders. Pileated woodpeckers are familiar to most. Red-bellied woodpeckers used to be rare, but they’re now becoming common year-round, appearing in backyards all over Maine.
Northern flickers and yellow-bellied sapsuckers depart Maine in autumn, returning in mid-April. Flickers drum loudly, but less frequently. Sapsuckers drum constantly, from dawn until dusk. Around the third week of April, expect to hear them everywhere. Their drumming is distinctive.
This is the only eastern woodpecker with an uneven drum that raggedly peters out at the end. They love drumming on metal.
Ah, spring. If you listen, you can hear it coming.
