A Distinct Success as a Bird

This is the promised episode on the Baltimore oriole songs of the east side of the Charles River Peninsula. I take a philological approach (explained in the episode). A video including spectrograms of the birdsongs played in the episode is available here: https://youtu.be/lPE1Cs99864

On June 11, 2024 I took a kayak trip, starting at 5:30 a.m. from the canoe launch at Redwing Bay in Needham, Massachusetts, and traveling slowly upstream for about an hour. This recording captures the journey upstream and the journey back.Many of the Baltimore Oriole nests at Charles River Peninsula hang over the river so a kayak is the best way to locate the nests and record the songs of the orioles on-territory. By June 11, overall Baltimore oriole song had passed its peak but there was still

The romance novel treatment of our four Baltimore oriole characters concludes with a flurry of different recording techniques and situations.

A birdsong-based story about four Baltimore orioles, framed as a romance novel. Follow Lord and Lady Trestleton, Lord Railtrailton, and a mystery bird, as they fall in love and try to ward off competing suitors. Will the Trestleton relationship survive? Includes documentation of and speculation about song sharing among males of the species.

This is an introduction to Baltimore oriole song, a non-linear collage of excerpts from my field recordings, text-to-voice commentary , excerpts from audio bird guides, and clips from a conference presentation. The intro and outro music is based on the songs of two oriole songs in my collection.