Expert: Roger Lederer - 4/28/2010

Question
We live in northern Indiana, and I keep hearing a bird outside my window that sounds different from any I've ever heard. This bird song consists of three quarter notes, B flat, A, F, and then a triplet of three more F's. It sounds like a person whistling outside the house, but its's repeated very frequently in the morning. Can you identify it for me?

Answer
Well, I had my wife play this on the piano and it sounds vague familiar but doesn't fit anything I can definitively place. Sounds a bit like a partial call of a song sparrow, but I'm far from sure of that. Could also be a mockingbird. You say it is outside your window. If it is near your house and your house is not in the middle of the woods, that limits the choices to birds that would sing/nest around a house - mockingbird, house finch, titmouse, etc. You might try going to http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/songlist.html and listening to some possible song choices. You see, another problem is that birds have accents and the description you sent me might perfectly fit what you heard but does not fit what I know because I don't know all the accents. Some are quite different. Anyway, listen to the songs of birds you know are around your house on the website I gave you and see if one rings a bell.