Voice of the Wild

Black-throated blue warbler (Setophaga caerulescens). 

The understory warbler with a melancholy song. 
 
Voice of the Wild is a podcast about wildlife and the wild sounds they make. 
The following Cornell Lab | Macaulay Library recordings were used in this episode: 
  • Black-throated blue warbler song by Wil Hershberger (ML509253) 
  • Black-throated blue warbler fast song by William W. H. Gunn (ML509257) 
  • Black-throated blue warbler slow song by Arthur A. Allen and Peter Paul Kellogg (ML509258) 
  • Black-throated blue warbler call by Gregory Budney (ML509263) 
Sources and more: 
  • Cornell’s All About Birds 
  • Audubon 
  • Field guide to hotspots and birds in Illinois by Colin Dobson 
  • Audubon videoguide to 505 birds of North America 
  • Peterson field guide to the birds (Fourth edition) 
  • Sibley birds East 
  • Stokes Field Guide to Warblers 

What is Voice of the Wild?

If you learn to listen for them, you will find wildlife everywhere. Voice of the Wild is a podcast about wildlife and the wild sounds they make. Tune in every Friday to learn a new bird song, frog call, or insect noise. Voice of the Wild is an AI-free podcast. Generative tools are not used to write, research, or edit any part of the show.

This is Brodie with Illinois Extension and I’m here with a new “voice of the wild”

You might hear this warbler on a hike through a woodland with lots of understory. They prefer to forage in that shaded mid-level space, and will pick through an area of shrubs for some time before moving on. A distinct spot of white on the end of the wing is about the only mark that unites the male and female’s very different plumage. This is the black-throated blue warbler

While the female’s plumage is drab, the male’s plumage is striking especially in the deep shade of a woodland. Jet black on the throat, blue on the back, and a white below that really pops in the darkness of the woods. Their song is usually a slow, buzzy,…almost melancholy Zoo zoo zoo zeee. Though sometimes they have a faster or shorter version which you’ll hear in the second playthrough.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for today’s sound. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW