Continue with Microsoft TeamsThe Sounds of Birds
Vocabulary
Read the vocabulary terms to understand the reading better.
Dawn
Dawn is the time of day when the sun first comes up.
Bird Call
A bird call has shorter bird sounds that don’t have many different notes.
Bird Song
A bird song has longer bird sounds that have high notes and low notes.
Chick
A chick is a baby bird.
Flock
A flock is a group of the same type of animal that keeps together or are living together.
Mates
Mates are a pair of animals that live or have offspring together.
Note
A note is a musical sound or tone.
Territory
A territory is an animal’s own space or area that belongs to them.
Do you enjoy listening to birds? The best time to hear lots of birds making sounds is at dawn when the sun comes up. Birds make many different kinds of sounds. The two main kinds of sounds are songs and calls.
Bird Songs
Bird songs are longer than bird calls. These sounds are called songs because they have high notes and low notes, like a song. Different kinds of birds sing different songs. Baby birds, called chicks, learn the song they will sing from their parents.
There are two main reasons why birds sing songs. The first reason is to find a mate. Male birds sing to female birds. If a female bird likes the way a male sings his song, she will become his mate. Then the two birds will have baby birds, which hatch from eggs the mother lays.
Birds like to have their own space, called a territory. Birds also sing songs to tell other birds, “This is my territory, so stay away!”
Bird Calls
Bird calls are shorter than bird songs. Calls don’t usually have lots of different notes that make them sound like songs. For example, the call of a crow sounds like a caw, caw. The call can be repeated over and over—caw, caw—caw, caw—caw, caw.
Bird calls can warn other birds of danger. If there is a cat nearby, a bird will make calls to tell other birds to be careful.
Birds often travel in groups called flocks. Birds in a flock will call to each other as they fly. The call is a way of saying, “I’m here. I’m still with the rest of you.”
Chicks also make calls. You might hear calls that sound like cheep, cheep coming from a nest with chicks inside.
To learn more about the sounds of birds, watch the video by Kids Learning Videos on YouTube.
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