FIRST BIRD SONGS OF SPRING

     During warm afternoons in mid-February, I am thrilled to hear the delightful songs of several kinds of small, permanent resident birds in southeastern Pennsylvania's woodland edges and hedgerows with their tangles of vines and shrubbery, and older suburban areas with their planted trees and bushes.  Increasing daylight each succeeding day in January and February stir the hormones of male mourning doves, northern cardinals, northern mockingbirds, song sparrows, house finches, tufted titmice and other species of song birds.  And when the weather in February is spring-like, those male birds begin to break into lovely song to establish nesting territories and attract mates for reproduction, many of them singing on our lawns.  Their beautiful songs are welcome, and proclaim "spring is here"!!!

     A cold snap or snowfall temporarily halts that welcome singing.  But the return of warmer weather prompts the birds to resume their wonderful singing, some of them right at home!     

     Doves emit series of gentle, whistling notes that sound like "ooo-waa-hooo-hooo-hooo".  They repeat their songs, intermittently, throughout the day.  Many pairs of doves hatch young in sheltering coniferous trees on lawns and regurgitate pre-digested seeds into their chicks.         

     Many male cardinals perch as high as they can in a tree to triumphantly toss out their "what-cheer, what-cheer, ....." songs.  Their red feathering is most lovely when bathed in sunlight before a blue sky.  Cardinals nest deep in shrubbery.

     Mockingbirds have delightful songs of their own, but also imitate the singing of other birds, making one think there are several kinds of birds nearby.  Mockers sing from rooftops, trees, wash lines and any other perches off the ground.  They raise offspring in shrubbery.

     Sprightly song sparrows utter musical, bubbly notes from bushes, where they also hatch young.

     House finches sing lively, cheery ditties among shrubbery and arborvitae.  These pretty, little birds hatch babies in arborvitae and sheltering places on buildings, including under porch roofs.   

     Titmice boisterously chant "Peter, Peter, Peter ....".  These lovely, little relatives of chickadees nest in tree cavities in woods, and older suburban areas with their many tall trees.        

     These early, lovely bird songs, that announce the vernal season has arrived right at home, fill many people with joy.  But those songs are designed to bring the genders of each species together to raise young.  And all these bird species, except the doves, feed invertebrates to their young in their respective cradles.  

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