The Seasons of Bird Song the Beginning of Song in Spring

Vol.•94704] .i SAUND•aS,Beginning of Songin Spring 97

WILLETT, O. 1919. Notes on the nesting of two little-known speciesof petrel. Condor, 21: 60-61.--Pterodroma kypoleucaand Oceanodromatristrami on Laysan. 1945. The type of Telespizaultima Bryan. Auk, 62: 139. WILSON, SCOTT B. 1890. On a new finch from Midway Island, North Pacific. Ibis, 1890: 339-341, pl. 9.--Telespyza cantans, gen. et sp. nov. 1890. On some of the birds of the Sandwich Islands. Ibis, 1890: 170-196, pl. VI.--General and speciesaccotrots. 1891. On the Muscicapine genus Chasiempis,with a description of a new species. Proc. Zool. Sot., London, 1891: 164-166.--Cbasiempis gayi from Oahu. 1891. Descriptions of two new species of Sandwich-Island birds. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (ser. 6) 7: 460.--Himatione mana from Hawaii and Phaeornis lanaiensis from Lanai. 1891. Description of a new speciesof the genus Himatione from the Sandwich Islands. Proc. Zool. Sot., London, 1891: 166.--H. dolei from Maul WILSON, SCOTTB., AND EVANS, A. H. 1890-1899. Aves Hawaiienses: The birds of the Sandwich-Islands. (London, R. H. Porter), xxv, 257 pp., and numerousplates. YATES, LORENZOC•. 1897. The Laysan Islands. Overland Monthly, 30: 453-455, illus. Departmentof Zoologyand Entomology University of Hawaii Honolulu, T. H.

THE SEASONS OF BIRD SONG THE BEGINNING OF SONG IN SPRING

BY' ARETAS A. SAUNDERS BIRD song is a distinctly seasonalphenomenon. The extent to which birds singvaries considerably from year to year. At the height of the breedingseason, when practicallyevery singingspecies is in full song,little can be learned concerningseasonal variation. But at the beginningand end of the season,and in off seasons,such as fall, the variation is readily noted. It is evidentlycaused, either direct- ly or indirectly,by weatherconditions, and is thus probablycyclical. For more than thirty yearsI have kept recordsof the singingof birds, chieflyin southwesternConnecticut. Such data are necessarily limited by the ability and opportunitiesof the observer. When one can be in the field daily his observationson the first or last singing of commonspecies are likely to be quite accurate. But if observa- tionsare limited to week ends,they cannotbe so exact. My spring observations,after April 1, are practicallydaily, as I made it a habit to be out each morningearly beforeworking hoursbegan. The completenessof data concerningany one speciesis also lim- 98 SAUNDE•,Beginning of Songin Spring [AukI-Jan.

ited by its abundanceor rarity in the locality. With speciescom- mon about my home, observationscould be made even when there was no opportunityfor a field trip. Locally distributedspecies can only be heard when there is opportunity to visit the placeswhere they occur. Rare speciesare heard so infrequentlythat the data ob- tained from them have little value. Data on the seasonsof song are mainly of three sorts: the beginning of songin spring;the cessationof songat the end of the breed- ing season;and the revivalof songafter the postnuptialmolt. Varia- tions in the abundanceof songin the height of the breedingseason are mainly due to the conditionof the nestingcycle and the par- Ocular habit of each speciesin that regard, and are not seasonal. This paper is limited to the beginningof springsinging, and I plan to follow it with paperson cessationand revival. With the majority of summer-residentand transient speciesof southernConnecticut, the actual beginningof songmust be deter- mined at some locality farther south, for most of the birds arrive from the south in full song,and the date on which the first songis heard correspondswith the date of spring arrival. But this is not the case with residents, winter visitors, and a few transients and summerresidents, so it is only with thesespecies that my data on the beginning of songin spring are of value. Very early in the year the weather conditionsare extremelyvariable. Some species,such as the SongSparrow and the Meadowlark,sing more or lessat any time through the winter and it is difficultto determinethe difference betweena winter songand the firstspring song. A few warm,sunny daysin February,or sometimeseven January,will start birds singing, but if thisis followedby a periodof coldor snow,song ceases, to be resumedagain after a week or two. Daily recordsshow not only when the songbegins, but when it becomesregular. This latter dateis moreimportant and less variable than the dateof the firstsong. The specieson which I have data on the beginningof spring song follow. The Bob-white(Colinus virginianus) is at presentan exceedingly rare bird in Connecticut. It has always been variable in its numbers from year to year, and I have consequentlyomitted data in yearswhen it wastoo scarceto hear it regularly. My data are based on observationsin twentyseasons. One peculiarityis that in some yearsthe first songis to be heardin mid-April,after which there is a period of silenceuntil sometime in May, when regularsinging begins. My earliestdate is April 10, 1921,but after that one observa- Vol.•94764] J SAIJNWRS,Beginning of Song in Spring 99 tionno othersinging was heard that year until May 14. In a number of yearsthe songis not heardat all until May. The average date for the firstsong of the year is May 5, but the averagefor the beginningof regular singingis May 8. The latest date for the first songis May 24, 1936,but the bird wasscarce that year. It is notice- able that in everyyear when the firstdate is later than May 20, that year is one in which the specieswas scarce. The MourningDove (Zenaiduramacroura) was quite rare in this localityprevious to 1921,so that my data in earlieryears are not significant.But about 1921 it increasedconsiderably, and it has been common since then. The bird winters in considerable numbers,so that it is difficultto sayjust when migratingbirds arrive. The dateof firstsinging is exceedinglyvariable. It is my experience that non-passerinesingers are likely to be much more variable in theirsinging seasons than passerine ones. In thepast twenty-six years, whenthis species has been common, the averagedate of thefirst song is March27. The earliestdate is February19, 1943, and the latest, April 17, 1923. This wide variationof nearly two monthsis not due to differencein the abundanceof the species.The date when regularsinging begins is alsoexceedingly variable. The averagedate isApril 9. The earliestis March 25, 1945, and the latest, May I1, 1924. The phoebewhistle of the Black-cappedChickadee (Parus atri- capillus)is generallyconsidered to be a song. There are a number of thingsabout it, however,in whichit differsfrom the songsof mostbirds, and oneof thesethings is its irregularityas to season. haveheard it everymonth of the yearexcept January. The earliest dateon whichit washeard averages, in thirty-twoyears of observation, March13. The earliestdate is February5, 1938,and the latest, April 19, 1935. I have found it impossibleto determinedefinite dateswhen regular singing begins, because the singingalways seems to be irregular.For example,there is usuallyconsiderable singing in themonth of April,but in 1920,1928, and 1936, I heardno song at all from this speciesin April, thoughin all theseyears it was heardin March,and was common in May,except in 1928. When I firstnoted this, it lookedlike an eight-yearcycle, but when 1944 camearound I heardthe songon two differentdates in April of that year. Perhapsthis irregularityis due,to someextent, to varia- tionsin the abundanceof thebirds, for thereare years when they are comparativelyscarce. But in someof the yearswhen I recorded verylittle song,I neverthelessrecorded the presenceof Chickadees as frequently as usual and in normal numbers. 100 SAUNDERS,Beginning o[Song in Spring [Auk

The songof the White-breastedNuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)is not well known, probablybecause it is rather infrequent,not loud, and easily confusedwith the distant call of a Flicker. Like the Chickadee,this bird's singinghabits are irregular, and there is some difficultymaking sure just when the soundproduced is a song. It is easy to distinguishbetween the well-known nasal call-note, and the seriesof soft whistlesthat constitutethe song,but occasionally, at almost any season,the bird will utter a seriesof nasal call-notes, differing from the true songonly in the quality of the sound pro- duced. The question,then, is whetherto call sucha performancea song. If I do that, however,there will be practicallynothing about it that is seasonal,whereas the more typical songis fairly definitely confinedto late winter and spring. Yet there is more or lessgrada- tion betweenthe extremelynasal performance and the more typical song, and the latter, though describedas a whistle, alwayshas a slight nasal character. This more typicalsong generally begins in Februaryor March, but occasionallyis first heard in January. The averagedate is February 25, and the earliest,January 18, 1955. In 1929,when this species wascomparatively scarce, I did not hear the songuntil May 10. But, exceptfor that year,the latestdate of the first songis April 5, 1924. I have been unable, from my data, to determinean averagedate when the songbecomes regular, for it rarely is such. In someyears the songmay be heardalmost daily throughApril and May, whereas in others,though the bird seemsas commonas ever, the songis heard only occasionally,and at most irregular intervals. The Brown Creeper (Certhia[amiliaris), though present regularly in winterand in the springmigration, is heardsinging in thisregion only rarely. ! have heard it in only six years,and in most caseson onlyone date of the year. The recordsare toofew to makeaverages of much value, but few enoughto recordthem all. I have heard the songon the followingspring dates: April 15 and 21, 1915;March 24 and 25, andApril 22, 1917;April 5, 1922;April 15, 1927;April 21, 1955; and April 11, 1957. The WinterWren (Troglodytestroglodytes) sings rather sparingly duringthe springmigration. In someyears I do not hearthe song at all, thoughthe birdsare present. Occasionallya few birdsre- main all winter,and whenthat is the casethe firstsong heard is likelyto be earlierthan when the birds occur only in migration.In onlyfive years have I obtaineda recordof the firstsong after the birds have wintered. Theseyears are 1917, 1929, 1958, 1942,and Vol.•94764] .1 SAU•D•S,Beginning of Songin Spring 101

1946. Under suchcircumstances the averagedate for the first song is March 31; the earliest,March 17, 1946, and the latest, April 10, 1938. WheneverI have heard the songin March it has been after a winterin whichthis species was present. In yearswhen the bird is not found in winter the averagedate of the first songheard is April20, the earliest is April8, 194%and the latest April 30, 1931. Thereare onlyeight such years, and in all the othersthe bird was either not found or wasnot heard in song. In late yearsthis species sometimesoccurs for a few daysafter May 1, but I havenever heard the song in May. The BrownThrasher (Toxostoma ru[um) normally is in full song whenit first arrivesin migration. There havebeen two years,however,when a bird spentthe winterhere and I wasable to hearwhat wasprobably the firstsong of the year. In I951, a winteringbird firstsang on March29. Summer-residentbirds were not foundthat yearuntil April 11. In 1944,a bird firstsang on March26. Sum- mer residentswere not noted that year until April 23. The Robin (Turdusmigratorius) is one of the few speciesthat arrivein migrationbefore they begin to sing. Becausea few birds remainthrough the winter nearlyevery year, it is a little difficult to obtain the date of springarrival with completeaccuracy. But, usingthe datesthat, in my judgment,were the first onesof spring arrival, the averagefirst date, througha period of thirty-twoyears, is March 9. The averagedate of the first songheard is March 17. The earliestdate of the first songis March 7, 1931, and the latest, March 30, 1916 and 1940. The length of time betweenthe datesof first arrival and of the first songvaries from two to thirty-onedays. In 1920, the first birds arrived on March 23 and the first song was on March 25, but in 1922, the first migrants arrived February 22, but the first songwas not heard until March 25. One cannotpredict from the firstdate of arrival,just whenthe first songwill be heard. For example,the first arrival of migrants was March 6 in 1918, 1921, and 1926,but the first songin theseyears wasMarch 19, March 11, and March 22, respectively.In 1931, 1936, and 1938, the first arrival was on March 7, and the first songswere on March 7, March 15, and March 13. For a time I believed that the first songcoincided with the time that migratingflocks broke up and the birds scatteredto their breedinggrounds an•l selectedterri- tories,but later I noted a numberoœ cases where the first songscame from birds that were still in flocks. The Olive-backedThrush (Hylocichlaustulata) is a regulartransi- 102 SAUNDERS,Beginning o[ Songin Spring [AukL Jan. ent in Connecticutin May. Though thereseems to be a generalidea that this species,like other transientthrushes, does not singwhile in migration,it is my experiencethat it does. It doesnot singcom- monly on the date of its first arrival, however,but somedays later. In eight of the thirty-two yearsthat I have recordedobservations, ! did not hear the song. Theseyears are 1915,1917, 1919, 1920, 1922, 1931,1932, and 1940,most of them being yearsin which this species was rather scarce. The averagedate of arrival of this speciesis May 12, and the averagedate of the first song,May 16. The earliestdate of arrival is May 7, 1933 and 1944, and the latest, May 23, 1924. The earliest songheard was on May 7, 1944, and the latest on May 29, 1919. The Veery (Hylocichla[uscescens), like the Robin, is a speciesthat arrives in migration severaldays before it sings. The weather in May is much more settledthan in March so that the period between first arrival and the first songis shorterthan in the caseof the Robin. The averagedate of arrival is May 6, but the averagedate of the first songis May 10. In six years,1929, 1930, 1935, 1936, 1942, and 1943, the date of arrival and the first song coincided. The longest interval betweenarrival and the first songis nine daysin 1931,when the first bird was noted May 6, but no song heard until May 15. The averagelength of time between arrivaI and the first song is three days. The earliestdate for the first songis May 1, 1942, and the latest, May 18, 1919. The Bluebird (Sialia sialis),like most other thrushes,usually arrives before singing,but there are exceptions. In sevenyears, I914, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1934, and 1938, the first singingwas heard on the day of arrival. In three yearsI heard singingin February from birds that, I had reason to beIieve, spent the winter. These datesare February25, 1922;February 22, 1934;and February13, 1937. The averag•date of arrivalof the Bluebirdis March 10;the earliest, February22, 1939;and the latest,March 25, 1916. The averagedate of the first song,leaving out the songsof wintering birds that I have mentioned, is March 18. The earliest is March 3, 1923, and the latest, April 2, 1940. The Golden-crownedKinglet (Regulussatrapa) is a winter bird whosesong is very rarely heard during the springmonths that it is with us. I have heard it just six timesin the past thirty-twoyears. The datesare April 24, 1914;March 29, 1915; March 30, 1921;April 7 and 15, 1923; and April 24, 1926. The Myrtle Warbler (Dendroicacoronata) is the only warbler Vol.•94764'] .I SAUNDERS,Beginning of Song in Spring 103

that spendsthe winter in Connecticut,and thereforethe only one for whichI havedata on the beginningof song;all the othersare in songwhen they arrive in migration. The amount of songvaries greatlyin differentyears, sometimes beginning early, but in other casesthe birdsare in migrationa weekor morebefore singing begins. The earliestdate of singingI havewas, I believe,from a wintering bird, before migration began. This was March 23, 1941, but no further singingwas heard that year until April 15. The average date of the first songis April 13, and the latest,May 2, 1920. The EasternMeadowlark (Sturnellamagna) is a regular winter bird in the salt marshesalong the Connecticutcoast. Singingbegins sometime beforesummer-resident birds arrive or the winteringbirds begin to move inland. In fact, the Meadowlark is one of our most persistentsingers, and its songmay be heardin everymonth of the year. So it is not a matterof when the very first songis heard,but oneof justwhen regular spring singing begins. Each year there are practicallyalways a few scatteringdates of songin Januaryor early February,and then a time whenone hearsthe songalmost every day,and from severalbirds rather than a singleone. The datewhen this occursvaries greatly from ),ear to ),ear. The averagedate is March9; the earliest,February 23, 1930;and the latest,April 1, 1916. The Purple Finch (Carpodacuspurpureus) occurs at all seasons in southernConnecticut, but is exceedinglyerratic in its abundance and never commonas a breeder. Its greatestabundance is in late winteror earlyspring, but in someyears it is scarceeven then. The amountof singingalso varies greatly. In some),ears these birds sing a greatdeal, whole flocks singing together in choruses,while at other times,even though abundant, they singlittle. In the big invasion of thisspecies in 1939,for example(Weaver, 1940), the birdssang comparativelylittle. The datesof firstsinging are variable,but they usuallybegin a periodof song,so I havesimply averaged them. The datesvary from January30, 1926,to April 26, 1934,and the averageis March 15. In 1933,I consideredApril 10 the earliestdate, for it wasthat for the commontype of song. But on April 1 of that year! founda bird singingthe "vireosong" (Saunders, 1935, p. 246),a perform- ancevery different from the regularsinging of thisspecies. The Pine Siskin (Spinuspinus) is an erraticwinter visitorof this region,singing rather rarel), when it lingersin the springmonths. I havebut a fewdates, as follows: April 8 and 9, 1928;April 6 and 25,1934; March 14, 21, 22 and 28, 1936; Ma), 2, 1937;and Ma), 10, 1944. 10'• SAUND•,Beginning of Songin Spring [AukL Jan.

The Goldfinch(Spinus tristis) is presenthere throughoutthe year, though individuals are probably migratory. They sing abundantly long before the nestingseason begins. The averagedate for the beginning of singingis April 3; the earliest,March 12, 1921;and the latest,April 24, 1934. In ten of the thirty-oneyears of observation, the first singing was in March, which must have been before the prenuptial molt which takesplace in April and early May (Dwight, 1900,p. 179). Songis irregular in April. Probablythey do not sing in the height of the molt, but observationof male plumagesin April flocks indicates that all individuals do not molt at the same time. In two years,1920 and 1936,when the songof this specieswas first heard in March, therewas no moresinging until after the first of May. The Slate-coloredJunco (Juncohyeraalis) begins singing in March, or sometimesFebruary, and continuesuntil the end of its stay in late April or early May. The averagedate of the first songis March 12; the earliest,February 9, 1935;and the latest,April 7, 1932. In four out of thirty-twoyears I haveheard the songin February. These early songs,however, are isolated, and mainly from single birds. Regular singingby the species,as a whole, beginslater. The average date for this is March 27; the earliest, March 15, 1942; and the latest, April 16, 1939. Before the beginningof regular singing,in February or March, one may sometimeshear primitive songfrom this species(Saunders, 1929,p. 48). Bicknell (1885,p. 146)describes this songof the Junco. and speaksof the bird as having two distinct songs. I have not used the datesof thesesongs in compilingaverages, as they are not the regular song. Dates I have heard this songare February28, 1930; March 12, 1932; March 1, 1933; March 6, 1937; and February 14, 15, and March 1, 1942. On several occasions I noted that the bird singingthis songwas a fully adult male, without a trace of brown in the plumageand with a dark, nearly black head. I mention this to showthat this type of songis not alwaysa juvenilesong. The Tree Sparrow (Spizellaarborea) is a commonwinter bird that usually sings a little just before it leaves us for the summer. Sometimesthe songis to be heard in Februaryand evenJanuary. In other yearsit is not hearduntil the early daysof April. In the past spring,1946, I did not hear it at all. The averagedate of the first song,in thirty-oneyears in which I noted it, is March 2. The earliest is January 21, 1933, and the latest, April 5, 1914. The songbecomes more frequentin late March and April, but the data are too fragmentaryto determinean averagedate when regular singing begins. Vol.•g4764'] .1 SAVND•S,Beginning o! Song in Spring

The White-throatedSparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis), while most abundantin migrations,generally spends the winterin thisregion, thoughsomewhat locally distributed at that time. Thesewintering birdsbegin to singbefore the migration starts, commonly in March, oftenin Februaryand occasionally in January. Usually these winter datesof singingare isolated;that is, separatedfrom any regular periodof singingby severalweeks. In 1939,however, singing began on February18 and wasregular thereafter. The averagedate when regular singing begins is March26, with the earliestdate February 18, 1939, and the latest,April 23, 1922 and 1928. If ! averagethe actual earliestdates, including the iso- lateddates of wintersinging, the resultis March 11. Datesof winter singingare Januuary13, 1924;January 19, 1929;February 1, 1936; February16, 1937;February 5, 1938;January 10, 1940,and Febru- ary 15, 1942. The SongSparrow (Melospiza melodia) is commonin thisregion throughoutthe year, thoughless so in winter than at other seasons. This bird probablysings more than anyother bird we have. I have heardits songin everymonth of the year. The first songsof the year usuallycome in Januaryor February. Regularsinging begins in late Februaryor in March. The isolatedwinter songsare usually heard on clear, sunny,and comparativelywarm days. My earliest dateof the year,January 2, 1926,was a casewhen the bird sangwith the temperature,on my thermometer,--2 ø F. On anotheroccasion, during the total solar eclipseof January 24, 1925, a SongSparrow sangin the waning light when the thermometerregistered 0 ø F. In thirty-twoyears of records,the earliestdates of singingaverage February 7; the earliest,January 2, 1926; and the latest, March 3, 1936. The averagedate when regular singingbegins is February 28; the earliest,February 4, 1938; and the latest, March 25, 1916. !n addition to the study of the seasonalsinging of each species, there is an additional interest in the comparisonof different species from year to year. For illustrationof this I have selectedfive commonspecies whose songs begin at differenttimes in the springmonths. The diagram (Text-figure1) illustratesthis. In this diagramI have used the beginningof regular singingfor the SongSparrow, but the first songheard for the other species.An exceptionto this is the singleexample of March singingof a Myrtle Warbler in 1941, mentioned above. It was an isolatedsong, and to have used it in the diagram would have confusedthe record with that of the Robin. In caseswhere I have no record of singing in 106 Auk SAV•US, Beginningof Songin Spring Jan.

',• • ',it6

•lkve-b,c•e• Thrush

Veery

ZB 7o 3?- 'i)• • )8 '•0 'q• ?6

Chart showingdates of first singing of five speciesfrom 1914 to 1946 certain yearsI have useda broken line to connectthe records. This is true of all speciesin 1925 due to the unfortunate lossof a field note-book. Different yearsdiffer not only in carlinessand latenessbut also in carlinessat the beginningof the season,and latenessat the end, or vice versa. One may note in the diagram a certain amount of correlationbetween the speciesin the tendancyof lines connecting datesto becomeparallel. But this is not uniformlythe case. For Vol.894764] .i HARRIS,George Willett (•879-•945) 107 example, the Robin and the SongSparrow parallel each other pretty well from 195õto 1942,but in 1922 they are far apart and in 192õ closetogether. A certain amount of the irregularity may be due to faulty observation. One cannot alwaysbe in the field at just the right time and place to hear the first singingof a particular species. One may conclude,however, that weather conditionsfrom year to year determine the variations in the times that birds begin to sing, and that, in general,the effectis the sameon different speciesthat begin their singingat about the sametime.

i•I•FI•RENC]•S CITI•D BICKNI•LL,]•UGI•N• P. 188•1885. A study of the sin•g of o• bffds. Auk, 1: 60-71, 12•140, 20•218, 322-332; 2: 14•154, 24•262. D•OHT, JONAT•N, J•. 1900. The •quen• of plumages•d mo•ts of the pa•efine bffds of New York. Ann•s N.Y. A•d. Sei., 13: 73460. SAUNDERS,•TAS A. 1929. Bffd so•. New York State Mu•um, Handbook 7: 1-202. 1935. A •de to bffd songs:I-XVIIL 1-285. (New York.) W•AV•, •CH• L• 1940. The P•le F• •vasion of noaheastern Unit• States and the M•it•e Pro•s in 1939. Bkd B•ding, ll: 79-10•. Fairfield Connecticut

GEORGE WILLETT (1879-1945)

BY HARRY HARRIS Plate 5 O• the point of achievingthe most distinguishedhonor within the power of organizedAmerican ornithology to bestow, George Willett, First Vice-Presidentof the Union, Editor of the 'Ten-year Index to The Auk,' and Fellow since 1939, was taken by death on August 2, 1945, in his sixty-seventhyear. To thosewho knew intimatelythis wise and genial characterit seemedinevitable that his superior,though utterly unconscious,tal- ent for leadershipcombined with a sure instinct for avoiding wrong judgments should have marked him for advancementin his chosen science. His geniusfor friendship,his warm human sympathiesfree from all prejudice, his searchingand judicious appraisementsof men and motives, and his constantand unequivocalsincerity were among the personalqualities that led his colleaguesin the Cooper OrnithologicalClub to view him in the light of a paternal and al-