Author: Rupert Masefield, Communications Officer, Eastern England Regional Office (EERO)
Last month in this column I wrote about the urban dawn chorus I enjoyed one morning as I made my way through the city to work. This month I find myself irresistibly drawn back to the subject of feathered songsters, this time to shed some light on nature’s sopranos, tenors and baritones.
The dawn chorus may sound like a frantic melee with the most beautiful voices with the birds competing to get their voice heard, but there is method in the madness and the singers know exactly when their slot is and if you listen regularly you will start to recognise certain species habitually starting before others. So, without further ado, here is a very brief guide that will hopefully help you start to identify who’s who in the choir:
Act one: robins and dunnocks
Act two: blackbirds, songthrushes and skylarks
Act three: chiff chaff, chaffinch, wood pigeon, and collared dove
Act four: blue tits, long tailed tit, great tit, goldcrest and tree sparrows
Chaffinch. Credit: Ray Kennedy (RSPB)
Act one
Dunnocks and robins are among the earliest to warm up: to hear the first act you’ll need to be in the stalls early as they start to sing about an hour before sunrise.
Act two
Blackbirds and song thrushes come hot their heels, probably because the ground is wetter in the morning so worms are more active and the ground is softer.
Act three
Finally, contributing to the crescendo, wrens, tits and warblers come in, with the tiny call of the goldcrest on the stage too. These later arrivals to the choral scene eat insects and are perhaps more sensitive to the coldness of dawn.
Act four
Unbeknown to many there is also an evening performance, with a chorus at dusk, but it’s much quieter, and it’s easier to hear birds like blue tits and tree sparrows. They sing in the morning too, but we are less likely to notice them among the cacophony!
Great tit. Credit: Grahame Madge (RSPB)
Guest performers and soloists:
Summer migrants join the chorus
As the breeding season approaches its peak, migrating birds like cuckoos, nightingales, turtle doves and warblers returning to this country for the summer will join the chorus of resident blackbirds, wrens, dunnocks and robins.
If you’re lucky enough to live in area with farmland, woodland or reedbed nearby, you might hear the unmistakeable songs of some of these traditional heralds of summer. Otherwise, an early morning visit to one of Norfolk’s many nature reserves is a great way to track down these more elusive songsters.
Nightingale solo
Male nightingales prefer to sing alone, turning their performance into an all-night after-show, singing until sunrise. They can’t rely on visual clues to attract a mate so their song is particularly important and they can’t risk it being lost among the other voices.
What’s all the noise about?
At this time of year, birds are in the market for a mate for the breeding season. Male birds establish a territory- an area they will defend against competing males of the same species- using their song both to stake their claim and to attract a female.
They are at their loudest early in the morning, which is not a good time to go foraging for food if you’re looking for insects and relying on sight to find them.
The louder your dawn chorus the more proud you can be of your efforts to give nature a home too. If you’re providing food, water and shelter, it is bound to make their voices as strong as possible!
Singing is hard work, so it is usually the fittest, best fed males who sing the loudest. In many cases, once a female has been serenaded the male will sing less often as his work is done.
Find a nature reserve near you to go and experience the dawn chorus: www.rspb.org.uk/reserves
Dawn chorus events on our Norfolk nature reserves:
Join one of our guided dawn chorus walks at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen or Titchwell Marsh nature reserves.
For details of these walks, including cost and to book (essential), please contact:
RSPB Strumpshaw Fen – 01603 715191 email strumpshaw@rspb.org.uk www.rspb.org.uk/strumpshawfen
RSPB Titchwell Marsh – 01485 210779 www.rspb.org.uk/titchwellmarsh