Songbirding

A classic birding-by-ear problem is having two or more species in the same area that have similar songs. 

The Chipping Sparrow and the Orange-crowned Warbler are two such species: two of many that are infamous for their cryptic trills. 

First, the Chipping Sparrow has a straight trill with a consistent spacing between each “note”. 

In contrast, this Orange-crowned Warbler’s trill slows down as it progresses, and is not very consistent in quality.

For this species in contrast episode I’ll be sharing my recordings of Orange-crowned Warbler & Chipping Sparrow from the Barrier Lake Forestry Trails, the Fullerton Trail, Prairie View, and the Sibbald Flats.

Credits

Songbirding: Kananaskis Country is a Songbirding Studios production.

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.

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

Creative Commons music is from Bluedot Sessions.


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

Creators and Guests

Host
Rob Porter
Rob is a software engineer and naturalist in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is the winner of the 2025 Betty Blashill Environmental Prize, and started the Songbirding podcast in 2019.

What is Songbirding?

Immerse yourself in the elsewhere.

Guided by award-winning naturalist and field recordist Rob Porter, the Songbirding podcast is an audio nature documentary that takes you on guided hikes while you learn the songs of dozens of North American songbird species. Entirely recorded in the field, and equally ideal for learning or relaxing to. You really won't hear any other podcast quite like this (and if you do, we'd really like to hear about it!).

Songbirding has been four-time nominated as Best Science Podcast for the Canadian Podcast Awards.

You can start with any episode in any season. Season 1: Bruce Peninsula, Ontario; 2-3: Southern Ontario; 4: Mid-western & Southern Ontario; 5: Johnston Harbour, Ontario; 6: Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania; 7: Kananaskis Country, Alberta.

For those with high-frequency hearing loss, please search for "Songbirding Under 5kHz".

Credits

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.
Cover art by Lauren Helton - https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/

About the Host

Rob is a software engineer and naturalist in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is the winner of the 2025 Betty Blashill Environmental Prize, and started the Songbirding podcast in 2019. He is also currently the Bird Studies Group Director of the Hamilton Naturalists' Club.

Support

Support the show at https://songbirding.com/support