Veery songs and calls. 5:30am, 14 May 2016, Texas Hollow State Forest near Burdett, New York. A 3D binaural recording; please wear headphones! © Lang Elliott.
Many mornings I am unable to even get a half-usable recording, but this morning I struck gold. I arrived at Texas Hollow in the twilight and made my way to a swampy area … a slow-moving stream surrounded by Hemlocks and hardwoods. I heard a Hermit Thrush singing not far downstream and moved in his direction. No luck; he flew off before I had a chance to get close.
Feeling the usual frustration, I stood next to the stream, took a deep breath and relaxed, enjoying the cooing of a Mourning Dove, along with the calls of distant spring peepers and the occasional soundings of crows and canada geese. And that’s when it happened. All of a sudden a Veery began singing nearby … and I mean “nearby”, I think within fifteen to twenty feet of my position. “What luck,” I remember thinking, “my first chance of the season to record the spiraling flutesongs of this magical avian musician.” There was no way to see male in the dim light of dawn, but he seemed to be just overhead, in the yellow birch towering above me. I dared not look in his direction for fear he would fly away.
I am so fortunate. Veery songs showered down upon me for nearly two minutes before the male broke into an extended call sequence (of common occurrence in this species). Altogether, he gave six noticeably different call types before flying off to a more distant perch. I’ve recorded many Veerys over the years, but I believe this is my most intimate sound-portrait yet. I still can’t believe he allowed me to get that close. Surely, he was watching my every move.
Just for fun, here is a section of the recording slowed down and pitch lowered so that you can hear the intricate details of the songs. Sounds like weird signals coming from outer space, with a foghorn thrown in for good measure!
Well, what’ya think of that? I invite you to join in the conversation by leaving a comment below.
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Just as the Spirit warns Believers of danger, our Creator has instilled in the Veery an early warning system to advise them of eminent danger
Hi Nice to land on your site. Very clear call of the Veery. I think it’s one i’ve been attempting to identify for a long while. You really know your birds and seem to be a bird magnet….Thanks, Lucy
It’s like an orchestra with the flute song of the veery backed by the tuba Mourning Dove and occasional trumpet of the crow. But then the veery plays a synthesizer flute. What a performance you have arranged for us. Thank you!
HOW BEAUTIFUL!!!! THANKS!!
[…] posted an intimate recording of a Veery about a week ago (Very Veery), I found myself thinking about all the other Veery recordings I’ve made through the years […]
You have no idea how you have enriched my soul with all the beauty of nature that you so generously share with us …God bless you !
Why thank you Doreen. Your comment gives me faith that I’m on the right track. My primary goal is to enrich souls with the beauty of nature (via natural sounds). It’s really as simple as that. All else follows …
Thanks for this recording Lang. As I was leaving my favorite nearby nature reserve in Harvard, MA last Wednesday afternoon I happened upon what I figured to be some type of Thrush. It flew away to a tree about 30 feet from me and began calling. I did not know what it was at the time but later IDed it to be a Veery Thrush. If I had ever heard this call before I had never matched it to a visual or known who the caller was. Unfortunately I did not have time to stick around to see if he… Read more »
Not many veery singing in my area right now, but I suspect that will change drastically over the next few days.
Lang, what a delight, both recordings. I love to close my eyes when listening to your recordings. It makes me feel I’m actually right there experiencing first-hand nature’s offerings. Thank you.
That’s an advantage of using my binaural mic system. Very spacious, as if you are there (at least when listened-to over headphones or earbuds).
Haven’t heard a veery this season so this was a treat to hear…love the slo-mo version!
Thanks Deena!
I viewed a veery for the first time 2 days ago here in North Central Vermont. It was hopping along and foraging on my morning walk by the pond. Glad to have the voice to add to my birding knowledge!
Eileen: Let me know when you hear one singing!
Hello again, I wasn’t able to open this yesterday on my laptop, but I’m glad that I went into your website to find it! This has made me Veery happy 🙂
If, for some reason, my life depended on picking a favorite bird song, I’d be hard pressed for a moment and then pick the Veery.
I always choose the winter wren first, but after that it becomes my fickle choice between the various thrushes, the veery being high on the list (my usual favorite being the hermit thrush, or else swainson’s thrush).
A kaleidoscope of different bird sounds. So interesting to listen to. Thank-you, Lang! I am trying to memorize the voices of the birds you post so that I can see how many I can identify where I live. I know the more common ones, but am always wondering what else I am hearing. I need a personal field guide :-).
Where do you live Betsy?
NE Ohio. Just wondering how many birds I am not aware of that I may find fascinating.
such an unusual and complex little tune. like the other occasional sounds like crows too. i had huge chorus of frogs this week, we have had so much rain. there was one i had never heard before in the midst of all the other ones that are same species, even if different pitches here and there. by time i got down there with my recording, i couldn’t hear him anymore. not sure what my frog chorus is. not peepers, which came first. and not the deep croaks of bullfrogs.
Billie: please send me (or post here an mp3) a brief recording of your frog chorus so that I can ID the species involved.
oh thanks! i will make one. did not do it the other night because by the time i got down there, the little guy had stopped and there was enough far off traffic noise that i did’nt see any point in recording the regular chorus. of course now the temp has plummeted, but it’s supposed to go back up in a few days and more rain, so i’m sure the frogs will be singing again. i am attaching a link (i hope) of a video i made a couple years ago. it is from a quartet of videos–a collaboration between… Read more »
Such a striking sound and he looks so nondescript. It’s always bugged me that I can never SEE one of these little devils as he trills away. But he’s far better heard than seen, I guess.
I wonder if I might have seen him had I looked up. But that would have risked the recording, so I just stood their like a statue, thankful that there were no mosquitoes.
That’s the magic of being a soundscape recordist. Sometimes someone steps up to the mic, and you get a species recording that’s elegantly placed in its context.
Dan: I love it when that happens. I was hoping for a Veery but thought I’d have to stalk one. Instead, this one landed right on my head. I left a mic in one other location this morning and discovered upon listening yet another Veery. But he was off to one side and perhaps a hundred feet away. First chance I get, I intend a set a mic right in the middle of that one’s territory. One can never record enough Veerys.
OMG… the slowed down version really does sound like signals coming in from the mother ship! I am still in awe and wonder over the breakdown of the bobolink recording in which you did the same thing. That really blew our socks off!!!
The slowed version benefits from all the other sounds in the recording, which adds to the otherworldly effect. Initially I was going to slow down a perfectly clean-and-clear veery recording, but opted instead to slow the same one that I featured at the top.
So veery pretty! It was such a magical experiencing hearing a group of them sing at the ANWR complex last year during migration. I thought I must be dreaming to be hearing such wonderful sounds coming out of our southern trees!
Sara: I’ve never heard a group singing. That would be absolutely amazing.
It was during a “fallout” in migration. The weather was turning bad and the birds came down to rest after their long journey across the Gulf of Mexico… There were lots of weary warblers and the like. Then they just stayed around a couple of days. I never actually saw a single veery. But we knew they were there from the otherworldly music being piped out of the trees. :O) The refuge has a fairly small “woodlot creation” as they call it, and it really, really serves the birds well. After the hurricane (Ike) it was also a blessing that… Read more »
Veery fine, Lang! I was only familiar with the one “veeur” call so I learned a lot from this recording. Thanks!
veeur, veeyee, churree, churruh, and more … there is a lot of variation.
I love hearing all those different calls in addition to the song! The distant Crows and the somewhat closer Mourning Dove provide a very nice accompanimental context, too. I know there are other residents singing, drumming, and calling, but the single dove’s peaceful consistency seems to balance out the crows quite nicely. This must have been an absolutely enchanting moment for you!
Lisa: see my reply to Susan below. I am glad I got all those calls because it’s instructive. But personally I would have elected for more singing and less calling. Still, I’m very grateful for what I got.
Love, love, love this! Could listen all day! Beautiful, Lang!
I don’t know if I would want to listen to the calls all day. They can get on my nerves a bit. But the song is really a treat for the ears.
Charming, a real treat.
OMG as irony would have it… my friend Lang just posted in his blog “The Sounds of Nature” a post called, “Very Veery” here is the song I heard this AM….for the first time in my backyard ever! The wood like flute call is what has mesmerized me since I pulled all nighters camping out after closing the the old Hartung Tavern and heard them singing in the pre-dawn hours. We put our guitars, banjos and whatever else we were playing down and most fell asleep campfire side.. Not me.. I waited for the birds. As a late teen/early 20… Read more »
Deb: I’m going to post another magical veery recording in about a week or so. It celebrates a veery “singing in the rain” in the mountains of West Virginia. You’re sure to like it!
can’t wait Lang. thank you!
So exciting! I’ve never heard a veery before.
Their downward-spiraling song is quite beautiful. Some describe it as sounding like the Veery is singing in a empty barrel or drum, which would impart a ventriloquial effect.
I called this bird ‘flanger bird’ before I found out its ‘real’ name.(Of course,he himself might regard his song as his name,eh?). The reason that it sounds as though he were singing in a small, echoic space is that he has two sets of vocal chords that are ganged together in such a way that one unit is out of phase with the other by a few milliseconds. Digital delay effects in studio music production include ‘flanging’,which was discovered when somebody in the pre-digital age accidentally retarded a tape reel by disturbing its flange as it turned,thus creating an out-of-phase… Read more »
Thrilling trilling, goose-bump chilling, in a most delightful way, of course. Have to wonder if nature’s sprites and ‘energy beings’ sense what you are about and conspire in aid of surprising you with such glittering opportunities. I suspect they like your work! I do, too.
Sharon: The incident this morning makes me wonder about that … why on earth did that Veery perform so close to me, especially given all the noise I made when I approached him? Did one of my friends pay him off?
Great recording.
awesome! haven’t heard one yet (northern Vermont) but sure I will. thanks!
Thank you again, that is so beautiful and I am so glad you resisted looking up.
One of my favorite spring songs! The veery haven’t arrived yet in my hollow in the higher elevations of the Bristol Hills, but they are close if you’ve recorded this lovely one.
Bev: I’m sure they’re back, because I’ve been hearing calls for nearly a week. But only now am I beginning to hear them singing.