Songbirding

The conclusion of a hike through this forest off of Sibbald Trail in Kananaskis in July of 2023. Credits Songbirding: Kananaskis Country is a Songbirding Studios production. Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter. The Songbirding cover art (Townsend's Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062 Creative Commons music is from Bluedot Sessions...

Off the Sibbald Trail, just west of Sibbald Meadows Pond, I found a small pull-over and hiking trail leading into the woods to explore. With just a few hours until my flight back for this first trip I decided to pop in for a quick listen, to hear what might be singing in this unnamed mountain forest. (I still don't know a name for this trail, but it is part of the Lusk Ridge hills.) Credits Songbi...

I’m continuing my exploration of Opal Day Use area along the main highway of Kananaksis Trail. This location is alongside a river and seems to be abundant with warblers, sandpipers, Columbian ground squirresl and more. Credits Songbirding: Kananaskis Country is a Songbirding Studios production. Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter. The Songbirding cover art (Townsend's Warbler)...

One thing I’ve learned from years of birding is not to ignore a good roadside birding location. It often seems counterintuitive to me as a sound recordist — I do want to be away from traffic sounds, of course. But often roadside stops consist of edge habitats that songbirds love to occupy. And, also in this case, Columbian Ground Squirrels. You’ll hear them in this episode, but I wasn’t aware they...

This is my second try at finding birds to record at Kananaksis Lake, the first being a couple years earlier and being only of moderate success. I’m hoping despite the clinging of the last vestiages of winter, I might have some success finding some birdsong at cold climate lake. Credits Songbirding: Kananaskis Country is a Songbirding Studios production. Recorded, engineered, narrated and created b...

The Tennessee Warbler is a small, drab warbler with a thin pointy bill and a short tail. They breed mostly in the Boreal Forest in Canada, but can also be found here in mountains of Kananskis Country. Their song is a very (very) loud jumble of rapidly accelerating very high pitched notes that can sound like "ticka ticka swit sisisisisisi”. Credits Songbirding: Kananaskis Country is a Songbirding S...

I’m continuing my hike along the Elk Pass Trail in Kananaskis Country, close to BC border. It’s a quieter and cooler climate than I’m used to, but the crossbills, wrens, thrushes and more don’t seem to mind the weather. Credits Songbirding: Kananaskis Country is a Songbirding Studios production. Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter. The Songbirding cover art (Townsend's Warbler...

The Pacific Wren is a tiny-yet-loud brown bird that can be found all year round in much of its West Coast range, though some of the more northern deeper interior populations in Canada make a short migration sound. Their songs are a loud and tumbling cascade of bright musical phrases, lasting anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds on average, and sometimes even longer. The species has a couple very similar...

The morning is beginning to draw to a close and I am wrapping up my first exploration of the Sibbald Meadows Pond. Things may be a bit quieter but that does allow for me to focus more on the sounds of individual birds. Credits Songbirding: Kananaskis Country is a Songbirding Studios production. Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter. The Songbirding cover art (Townsend's Warbler)...

Episode Notes Notes go hereThe Common Yellowthroat is a loud and lively warbler found along the edges of marshes and wetlands. It is one of the few warblers found nearly everywhere across North America every summer. Males are known for their broad black masks, and unmistakable "witchety-witchety-witchety" song. In this episiode, we continue our hike around Sibbald Meadows Pond. Credits Songbirding...

It’s a sunny mid-July morning and I’m continuing my exporation of the Sibbald Meadows Pond: a secluded wetland surrounded in all directions by mountains, and abundant with bird song. Credits Songbirding: Kananaskis Country is a Songbirding Studios production. Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter. The Songbirding cover art (Townsend's Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylo...

The Lincoln’s Sparrow is a very secretive songbird that looks almost like it’s got a tailored plumage: complete with the stripes, spots, and the streaks of typical brownish North American sparrow. Most notably its chest is buffy coloured and has visible fine streaks. The song of the Lincoln’s Sparrow is a song of jumbled notes, and to me is reminiscent of an abbreivated House Wren song. This speci...

In Alberta, many road and highways are actually called trails. One such trail I’ll be exploring at lot is the Sibbald Creek Trail, a very wide, winding gravel road that passes through a diversity of mountain habitats. One of those habitats is the Sibbald Meadows Pond, a popular fishing spot surrounded on all sides by mountains, which also happens to be a fantastic birding location. For the next fe...

About an hour’s drive west of Calgary, Alberta in the foothills and front ranges of the Canadian Rocky Mountains is an area known as Kananaskis Country. Within this nearly 1 million acres of land are towering mountains, alpine meadows, glaciers, forests, lakes, wetlands, grasslands, and thickets. Over 130 species of birds nest in Kananaskis Country, including many songbirds. I’ve felt a draw to re...

The Eastern Warbling-Vireo is greyish olive bird that can be found in deciduous trees in open areas in the central and northeastern United States, and in the prairies and southern parts of Ontario and Québec in Canada. Its name is quite descriptive of its song — a rapid and almost frantic warbling song that is loud enough that you are more likely to hear this bird than see it. In 2025 this species...

Here in the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies, the birds are our hosts. We are their guests. Premieres March 2, 2026. Credits Songbirding: Kananaskis Country is a Songbirding Studios production. Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter. The Songbirding cover art (Townsend's Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/ Creative Commons music is PlainGrey by Bl...

The Common Grackle is a blackbird with bright yellow eyes and a glossy-irridescent plumage. Their vocalizations are a mix of croaks, creaks, squeaks, and whistles. Common Grackles are typically found in most of Canada and the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and are present year-round in the south-eastern half of that range. For this Species in Focus episode I’ll be sharing a spring walk...

The Christmas Bird Count is a census of birds in the western hemisphere that is held between December 14 and January 5 each winter. It was devised originally as an alternative to the 19th century tradition of hunting birds at Christmas, and has evolved to become the longest running citizen science project. There are tens of thousands of participants - seeking out and counting tens of millions of b...

The Christmas Bird Count is a census of birds in the western hemisphere that is held between December 14 and January 5 each winter. It was devised originally as an alternative to the 19th century tradition of hunting birds at Christmas, and has evolved to become the longest running citizen science project. There are tens of thousands of participants - seeking out and counting tens of millions of b...

The Northern Yellow Warbler is a bright and cheerful sounding songbird found during the breeding season all across North America. Males of the species are yellow with some red flecks along their chest, and are very songful. They have a number of different songs, but their most common one can be described as sounding like “sweet sweet, sweeter than sweet”. In 2025, this species was split from what...

Tonight, we take a walk after dark through a swamp full of katydids, crickets, grasshoppers, and maybe an owl... Credits Songbirding: Species in Focus is a Songbirding Studios production. Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter. The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062 Creative Commons music is from...

The Sedge Wren is a small, russet coloured energetic songbird found breeding in fields and shallow marshes in many parts of inland North America. Their song consists of several dry-sounding chirps followed by a short trill. Unlike other wren species they tend to be more shy, and without their loud song, can easily go unnoticed. This episode we will be exploring Taquanyah Conservation Area near Cay...

The Marsh Wren is a small, brownish, energetic songbird found in wetlands across a large swath of North America. Their song is a mix of harsh trills, gurgles, and buzzes. And, like most wren species, are much louder than their small size might suggest. This episode we will be exploring Taquanyah Conservation Area near Cayuga Ontario, first on two dates in 2024, then in the conclusion you’ll hear a...

In the upcoming special episodes I’m going to feature songbird species who fit three criteria: that I have plenty of recordings of them, that I have not significantly featured them before, and that they are not likely to be featured in the next season of Songbirding because they do no occur in the west, or have not shown up significantly in my western recordings as of right now. The Orchard Oriole...

We conclude with the finale hike of the season, listening to Swainson's Thrushes, and more. Credits Songbirding: The Allegheny National Forest is a Songbirding Studios production. Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter. The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062 Creative Commons music is from Josh Woo...