White-throated Sparrow has a two-part song

White-throated Sparrow, Charles River Peninsula, Needham, MA

For a bird with such a simple, stereotyped ("Old Sam Peabody" etc) song, there is a great deal of variation in the vocal expressions of the White-Throated Sparrow. Sometimes they stay on the same note, often they start low and go high, and sometimes (my favorite) they start high and go low. Today, in the rain, I recorded a white-throat doing both "go high" and "go low" variations, a lovely melancholy melody.

Here's a video that shows the sparrow doing both parts.

Here's a longer recording showing more variation (there is a song sparrow singing in the background that obscures some of the notes).

In other CRP news: a massive influx of yellow-rumped warblers.