Commentary: The sound of spring

Lincoln’s sparrows are a common sight along the Copper River Highway and Alaganik Road. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service

By Erin Cooper
For The Cordova Times

One needs only to step outside your front door in Cordova to be immersed in the sounds of spring. You may be lucky enough to glimpse these fast-moving birds, but close your eyes and you can hear a symphony of bird sound surrounding you.

While beautiful, songbirds also play an important ecological role in spreading seeds, consuming insects and sometimes as food for larger predators. Many of these small birds winter in warmer climates and travel to Alaska from as far south as Peru. Others may use a different strategy and overwinter in Cordova like chickadees and redpolls.

Spring is a great time to explore this world of birds. You don’t have to see the birds to know they are there. These birds use song to mark their territories. The males sing to both attract the females and warn other males that this area is “taken.” Each species of bird has a song distinctive enough that biologists use these songs to track spring breeding populations. The birds will continue singing until sometime in July, it is like someone just turned off the stereo… an eerie silence envelops the landscape. The birds are all raising their young and keeping a low profile from predators such as hawks, owls, magpies and cats.

U.S. Forest Service Biologist Melissa Gabrielson and Wildlife Technician Robert Masolini identify birds by song and sightings during surveys. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service

Melissa Gabrielson, the lead wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, conducts songbird surveys as part of the Alaska Landbird Monitoring Survey, a statewide effort since 2004. The information from these surveys is used to track trends in populations and habitat. Recent reports identify declines in some species that match those seen in other parts of the United States. The surveys collected in Cordova have already been part of this larger effort in understanding bird trends.

Melissa gets up before the crack of dawn, which in Cordova, Alaska, this time of year, is before 3 a.m. The survey starts within an hour of dawn and can continue up to five hours after the sun rises.

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It’s like peeling away the layers of an onion. First the most obvious and persistent songs, and possibly the most familiar, are documented. Then the songs that come less frequently. Then the birds a little farther away. And finally, the bird that may only sing once. These surveys are then compared through the years to determine trends in population. The surveys can even be combined with state and national surveys to look at the bigger picture.

Yellow-rumped warblers are an elusive forest bird that are not easily seen but can be identified by song when hiking in the woods. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service

Spotting these small birds is a fun spring activity, but you also may try learning to identify them by sound. While it may seem almost impossible at first to identify birds by song, it’s something that anyone with a keen sense of hearing can do. Pick a few favorites, birds that you see all the time — robins come to mind. Once you learn a few songs you can move on to a few more. It’s a great excuse to get up early, head out the road or go for a walk in the neighborhood. There are quite a few great tools to help you along the way. Two apps that are very popular in bird identification are Merlin (Cornell) and The Sibley’s Guide to Birds. The great thing about Alaska is that you don’t have an overwhelming number of species to learn. You can also enter your bird sightings into apps and websites like ebird and inaturalist.

So, take a break and step outside your door or into the forest or wetland and enjoy the sounds of the natural world this spring.


Erin Cooper is the U.S. Forest Service’s regional wildlife program leader for Alaska.

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