Birdy Words Defined and Explained

Some “birdy words” explained, so you can follow a conversation with a hardcore birder.

You might hear: “We’re going on a pelagic trip next week.”

This means looking for birds that normally hang out over the “open sea”. Groups will often charter boats and head off shore to look for gulls, gannets, skua, jaeger and more. These birds are often seen during whale watching trips. Technically, I suppose if they say pelagic trip they should be going out on the water, but if they say, “...going after some pelagic birds”, they may just be going to Pointe du Chene for fried clams and check out what wanders close to shore or steals fries off the next picnic table...not nearly as impressive.

You might hear: “I’m a little slow getting started, we were owling until the wee hours.”

Sounds like a wild time, and maybe it was, they were out after dark in search of owls, either by sight or more often simply listening for the calls. One might mimic the owl calls or play pre recorded calls through a portable player or over the vehicles sound system. I’ve been...one night we saw a Saw-whet Owl, heard a Barred Owl and a Great Horned Owl. The Great Horned was at first distant but within seconds it was so close I couldn’t help ducking and waiting for a territorial owl to strike my head. It was not impressed by the intrusion, I was quite eager to give it some space.

If you walk up to a couple of birders who are arguing whether the vocalization they just heard was song or a call, you might want to just keep walking. There is a difference but it’s not an argument you want to enter.

It’s usually only the male that sings, he does so to claim territory, attract a mate and to communicate if he already has one.

Many species don’t have songs but claim territory with flight displays, but most birds to have calls, they’re usually shorter and have different function than song. Some calls indicate alarm, aggression, or a quick contact call to keep in touch. If you are outside after dark in about a month you’ll here various single note whistles and chirps, these belong mostly to warblers and some sparrows. They are keeping in touch with each other while migrating south at night. Stand there for a while and you’ll likely hear hundreds of call notes, you’ll be wondering where they all came from since you only see a few in the day time.

Legend has it, there are people who can identify each bird from this call note, but how would I know if they were wrong? They all sound the same to me.

Some birds make non-vocal sounds considered by some to be song, woodpecker and grouse play the drums (my favourite part of any song), the winnowing of a snipe and the buzzing of a hummingbird is made with stiffened tail feathers during courtship flights.

The wing whistle of a Mourning Dove taking off is considered an alarm call, while the wing whistle of the Black Scoter in flight is a great way to keep track of the flock while migrating at night.

You might hear: “I saw a warbler high in the canopy, when I pished him down, it was a Bay-breasted.”

Pishing is blowing air in short blasts through closed teeth, like you do to call a cat. A curious bird will come a little closer to see what’s making the noise and you should be able to get a closer look. Some describe it as an art, but the only tricky part is knowing when to stop. I’ve been with people who are standing nose-to-beak with a bird and they are still pishing, when the bird flew away I’m sure I heard it mutter a few choice expletives, I know I was.

You want to hide yourself somewhat, pish a couple pishes, and wait. The best thing that could happen is for a chickadee to come along and scold the pisher, chickadee’s being one of the most pishable birds. If you have a chickadee over you scolding, sit tight, stop pishing and wait to see what comes along to join in the scolding. Sure you may have won the county pishing competition but you’re still no match for a chickadee when it comes to attracting other species.

If you’re out with a group, etiquette states that you should ask if we agree it’s OK to pish, if so you should have a designated pisher, both for the birds sake and your own, you don’t want to get stuck in the middle of 30 octogenarians all pishing at once.

You should have an idea of which birds are pishable (I hope that’s a word, I use it so much I’m used to it), for instance; warblers are very pishable, shorebirds are not, I’ve heard of some pishers at Mary’s Point who came close to being thrown into the bay. Chickadee and finch...very pishable, hawks not so much, continuous pishing on a “hawk watching” cliff is probably dangerous to your health too (if you’re with a group).

One hawk that is quite pishable though is the Northern Goshawk, here’s an exercise for you “over pishers” out there, next spring, stand under a goshawk nest and pish, you’ll likely get great close up views (and a few scars to brag about over drinks with other birders, don’t mention the pishing though).