Baltimore Orioles

Field book of wild birds and their music By Ferdinand Schuyler Mathews
Since my encounters with Baltimore Orioles this week (two on record here and here[UPDATE: Here are two more: here and here. And number 5) I've become intrigued by their tunefulness. The famous bird song transcriber, F. Schuyler Mathews, suggests that Baltimore Orioles each seem to be singing a phrase, and one phrase only, from one enormous musical composition. I wonder what it would sound like--what if everyone who heard a Baltimore Oriole song were to record it/transcribe it and submit it to a database. Then we could put them all together and hear The Song.

I've submitted mine above. Mathews offers the transcriptions below (via Google Books)

Field book of wild birds and their music

Field book of wild birds and their music By Ferdinand Schuyler Mathews

Field book of wild birds and their music By Ferdinand Schuyler Mathews

Field book of wild birds and their music By Ferdinand Schuyler Mathews

Field book of wild birds and their music By Ferdinand Schuyler Mathews

Field book of wild birds and their music By Ferdinand Schuyler Mathews

Field book of wild birds and their music By Ferdinand Schuyler Mathews

Incidentally, Mass Audubon is engaging in their own Baltimore Oriole project, but one that is a little worrying. There seems to have been a small decline in recent years of Baltimore Orioles in Massachusetts. For the past few years they have been attempting a census, relying on reports from volunteers around the Commonwealth. Here's the link to this year's page.