Tonight, we take a walk after dark through a swamp full of katydids, crickets, grasshoppers, and maybe an owl...

Credits Songbirding: Species in Focus is a Songbirding Studios production.

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.

The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062

Creative Commons music is from Scott Buckley.

Learn how to support the show at https://songbirding.com/support

The Sedge Wren is a small, russet coloured energetic songbird found breeding in fields and shallow marshes in many parts of inland North America.

Their song consists of several dry-sounding chirps followed by a short trill. Unlike other wren species they tend to be more shy, and without their loud song, can easily go unnoticed.

This episode we will be exploring Taquanyah Conservation Area near Cayuga Ontario, in May of 2022. 

Credits Songbirding: Species in Focus is a Songbirding Studios production.

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.

The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062

Creative Commons music is from Universfield.

Learn how to support the show at https://songbirding.com/support

The Marsh Wren is a small, brownish, energetic songbird found in wetlands across a large swath of North America.

Their song is a mix of harsh trills, gurgles, and buzzes. And, like most wren species, are much louder than their small size might suggest.

This episode we will be exploring Taquanyah Conservation Area near Cayuga Ontario, first on two dates in 2024, then in the conclusion you’ll hear a surprise I found there in May of 2022. 

Credits

Songbirding: Species in Focus is a Songbirding Studios production.

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.

The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062

Creative Commons music is from Universfield.

Learn how to support the show at https://songbirding.com/support

In the upcoming special episodes I’m going to feature songbird species who fit three criteria: that I have plenty of recordings of them, that I have not significantly featured them before, and that they are not likely to be featured in the next season of Songbirding because they do no occur in the west, or have not shown up significantly in my western recordings as of right now.

The Orchard Oriole has a curious song. Much like the Baltimore Oriole, each bird might have a slightly different song, with their own unique phrases.

This songbird has quite a varied appearance, with lemony-yellow females, and males with two plumages: one of a yellow bird with a black beard, typically seen in the second year of the bird’s life, followed up with a more mature plumage of a dark back and hood with what I like to refer to as a blood-orange chest, though some describe this more as a chestnut colour. Either way, the older males are quite a dark bird.

I find that the Orchard Oriole usually sounds like it is frequently interrupting its own whistle-y songs with terse, harsh interjections. And to my ears, sounds almost like an Eastern Warbling Vireo, except that it is interrupting its own songs.

For this episode we’ll be exploring three locations within my Ontario breeding bird atlas square, in Haldimand County, Ontario. I’ve found over the years of this survey that this species is highly successful in Haldimand, showing up in a high proportion of my random point count surveys.

Credits

Songbirding: Species in Focus is a Songbirding Studios production.

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.

The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062

Creative Commons music is from Universfield.

Learn how to support the show at https://songbirding.com/support

We conclude with the finale hike of the season, listening to Swainson's Thrushes, and more.

Credits

Songbirding: The Allegheny National Forest is a Songbirding Studios production.

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.

The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062

Creative Commons music is from Josh Woodward.

Learn how to support the show at https://songbirding.com/support

On the last hike of the season, we return to Deer Lick Run for an evening birding hike.

Credits Songbirding: The Allegheny National Forest is a Songbirding Studios production.

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.

The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062

Creative Commons music is from Josh Woodward.

Learn how to support the show at https://songbirding.com/support

Deep in Allegheny National Forest is the ghost town of Owl's Nest. While there were no owls to be found, there were a few songbirds to be heard, including a very cooperative Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Credits

Songbirding: The Allegheny National Forest is a Songbirding Studios production.

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.

The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062

Creative Commons music is from Josh Woodward.

Learn how to support the show at https://songbirding.com/support

I've joined the Pennsylvania Bird Atlas, which gives me a good reason to just explore some of the forest access roads to collect more observations. Since the roads are so quiet and without traffic, they're great for birding, and listening for bird songs.

Credits

Songbirding: The Allegheny National Forest is a Songbirding Studios production.

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.

The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062

Creative Commons music is from Josh Woodward.

Learn how to support the show at https://songbirding.com/support

As we return to the access road, a family of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers is encountered, and some Black-throated Green Warblers and Ovenbirds are heard.

Credits

Songbirding: The Allegheny National Forest is a Songbirding Studios production.

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.

The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062

Creative Commons music is from Josh Woodward.

Learn how to support the show at https://songbirding.com/support

Deep in the Allegheny National Forest is a trail leading down to Logan Falls. Along the trail we'll be hearing Black-throated Green Warblers, Ovenbirds, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and more.

Credits

Songbirding: The Allegheny National Forest is a Songbirding Studios production.

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.

The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062

Creative Commons music is from Josh Woodward.

Learn how to support the show at https://songbirding.com/support