# Bird question: Song **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 10, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-question-song/574120 "2011-03-10T02:13:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-question-song/574120/1 "2011-03-10T02:13:37Z")
What bird sings a pretty, complex song, just before dawn in the spring and early summer in the Pacific Northwest? Even though the weather sucks, I heard one this morning, so winter has an end after all. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-question-song/574120/2 "2011-03-10T02:21:48Z")
There’s not enough information. What habitat? Town, suburbs, forest? From underbrush or treetops? ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-question-song/574120/3 "2011-03-10T12:57:53Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > What bird sings a pretty, complex song, just before dawn in the spring and early summer in the Pacific Northwest? > Even though the weather sucks, I heard one this morning, so winter has an end after all. I was told there is a web site for bird songs, I have never checked it out, but maybe if you Google it you can find it that way. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-question-song/574120/4 "2011-03-10T17:21:50Z")
Possibly a [song sparrow?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Sparrow) ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-question-song/574120/5 "2011-03-10T17:44:40Z")
[whatbird.com](http://whatbird.com) and [allaboutbirds.org](http://allaboutbirds.org) are great places to start a search. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-question-song/574120/6 "2011-03-10T19:04:57Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There’s not enough information. What habitat? Town, suburbs, forest? From underbrush or treetops? We live about 15 minutes from downtown Seattle. However, we have old growth cedars and firs all over the neighborhood. Seattle looks green from the air. There are also lots of blackberry patches all over the city, our neighborhood included. So, I guess all of the above. 😃 I often. hear it from the lilacs by our window. The song sparrow linked by **cjepson** is common here. I guess that’s what I’m hearing. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-question-song/574120/7 "2011-03-10T23:39:47Z")
Swainson’s Thrush. Did I guess right? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-question-song/574120/8 "2011-03-11T00:45:16Z")
> [@capybara](#): > > Swainson’s Thrush. > Did I guess right? I don’t know, but I’ve heard an absolutely gorgeous song from a thrush-looking bird here in Vancouver. It has a stripey neck pattern similar to the song sparrow in the Wiki article cited above, but it’s larger and more, well, thrush-looking. Maybe a lark? It has a very complex song with many beautiful liquid notes in it. My bird doesn’t sound like the Swainson’s Thrush, but I’m only going by online soundfiles, and I don’t know if it’s what **picunurse** heard. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-question-song/574120/9 "2011-03-11T00:55:26Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Maybe a lark? It has a very complex song with many beautiful liquid notes in it. [Western Meadowlark](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Meadowlark)? That yellow breast is sometimes hard to see at a distance. [Video](http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/wss&CISOPTR=2372). ETA: Probably not, looks like they have been eliminated in the Vancouver area. ETA2: Maybe a [Hermit Thrush](http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hermit_Thrush/sounds)? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-question-song/574120/10 "2011-03-11T01:10:16Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > ETA2: Maybe a [Hermit Thrush](http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hermit_Thrush/sounds)? Yes, this is it. The pictures online look smaller than the one I saw singing, but that might have been my angle. It’s definitely the right song. **picunurse**? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bird-question-song/574120/11 "2011-03-11T03:44:43Z")
“House finch” is my shot in the dark. They’ve started singing here in Boston, so why not in the Pacific Northwest? I’d fairly describe their song as complicated.