When walking down to the forest, I noticed this bird flitting about the hedge row. I couldn’t get a good look at him, but it was easy to identify him by his voice. A song sparrow! Even his scientific name speaks of song: Melospiza melodia. Song sparrow songs vary, but the opening of the song is easy to recognize, two to four short notes, followed by a complex melody. The opening notes are sometimes represented phonetically as “Sweet! sweet! sweet!” A more imaginative take on the song is “Please! please! please! Put on the tea kettle – ettle- ettle!” You can listen to a version of the song at the Whatbird.com site. For a different version, listen to this USGS Patuxent Bird Identifier recording.
Willow House Chronicles 