Tufted Titmouse Sings in January

Songs so cheerily sung by songbirds during breeding season are typically suspended during the long, cold winter. That's when our year-round residents, like the Tufted Titmouse, become somewhat stingy with their vocalizations, offering our hungry ears only scratchy or nasal chatter. (Photo courtesy of Ken Thomas.)

Months have passed since last I heard the rapidly whistled peter-peter-peter of the titmouse, though many individuals daily perch in the naked limbs of my birch trees, waiting a turn at the black-oil sunflower seeds. So a week ago, I was not at all prepared to hear a lovely, yet less insistent, rendition of this bird's whistling song.

It was last Saturday, while hiking with others at Canoe Creek State Park. On that relatively warm day (temperatures in the high 30's), we stood in the parking lot of the education center before departing, and I heard the sweet clarity of a springtime song.

"What bird is singing?" I said to my neighbor, who responded politely, "Well, I guess a titmouse."

Of course it was--but why hadn't I "heard" it as such?

I think expectation can explain part of it. For instance, sometimes you hear only what you expect to hear. Something out of place, then, simply doesn't "register." At least this has been my experience. But there was something more this time.

When I came home I listened to audio tapes of the Tufted Titmouse's song (on the web site All About Birds) and discovered two distinctly separate tempos taken from two different birds. One was much slower than the other and much like the song I had heard but not recognized. A note associated with the audio states "Females occasionally sing a quieter version of the song."

I wonder. Was ours a songstress impatient for the spring?

Till next time . . . Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne