Listen and Decipher: Bird Language in the Field

By Guest Blogger Jeff Caplan

​Greetings from south of the equator! I’m currently teaching bird language in the Amazon jungles of Ecuador. There is such a passion here to protect the rare and endangered birds. I’m grateful to share bird language in Spanish because it connects local families to their natural world without the challenge of identifying the 1638 species of birds that live here! We can just listen and learn.

I grew up with a marine biologist father. So I was always at home poking about in the tide pools, walking in the woods, and ...

observing nature. I still remember father’s sea sick whisper of advice, after one of his particularly rough sea voyages, “Don’t study animals, Jeff, study PLANTS, because they don’t move around!” So in college I minored in botany. Birds especially intimidated me: too fast, always backlit, and with multiple songs and molting plumages.
 
In my middle-aged years, I began studying with Jon Young, author of the bird language bible, What the Robin Knows. I learned that songbirds are the inter-connected eyes and ears of our ecosystems. But can we learn what they are saying? ​I'm teaching a workshop for SFBBO on February 9, Decipher and Learn: Bird Language in the Field, that explores this question, as well as the following concepts:

• Each species of song bird communicates through their own calls, songs and alarms, but research shows that they respond to a common language that enables them to watch and warn other animals about the house cat, hawk and curious humans!
• Research is showing that human language may have had its roots in bird language.
• By learning to interpret the common language consisting of bird songs, sounds and movements we can begin to develop a deeper connection with nature, birds and ourselves.

 
Understanding common bird language does not require you to identify the species of every bird in the field in order to understand their vocalizations and behavior, so it is accessible to both beginners and seasoned birders of all ages. The workshop will include a short lecture at SFBBO's conference center in Milpitas followed by a morning of listening in the field at Ulistac Natural Area in Santa Clara to try to unravel the story of bird conversation and behavior.

​In the workshop you will learn:

• The five different common voices of song birds
• How to begin to interpret their communication from sound, movement and alarm
• Skills you can apply in your backyard, on a hike or sitting quietly observing in the city
• How to cultivate your observation and curiosity about what’s going on in the birds’ world

 
I find joining this kind of “community bird sit” creates a connection between me and individual birds, and allows me to share my enthusiasm with other birders through our shared observations, questions and theories. I hope you’ll join us! ​Registration is required, to register click here. 

Jeff Caplan weaves 30 years as a naturalist and a teacher of communication skills to cultivate a common language for connecting more deeply with nature and birds. Working privately and through the University of California, he has given workshops to hundreds of people in the Bay Area, Malaysia, and Ecuador. He combines story telling, citizen science, and strengthening observation skills to inspire connection and stewardship among his audiences.