Air Date: Week of April 26, 2013

Cactus Wren, on a cactus! (photo: Tom Grey)

Every spring, the rain brings bird songs back to the California desert. Michael Stein has this week’s Birdnote®.

Transcript

CURWOOD: Spring. There is nothing like its rains to bring the California desert back to life. Here's Michael Stein with today’s BirdNote®.

[RAIN FALLS]

STEIN: A light April rain falls in the Anza Borrego Desert, in southeast California. Cacti and wildflowers glisten with raindrops, and birds begin to sing.

[FINCH AND WREN SING]

The sweet, jumbled notes of a House Finch rise above the sound of the rain.

[HOUSE FINCH SINGS]

A Bewick’s Wren buzzes then breaks into exuberant song.

[BEWICK’S WREN SINGS]

A Cactus Wren joins the chorus, standing atop a barrel cactus, calling gruffly….

[CACTUS WREN HARSH RAPID SEQUENCE]

A Costa’s Hummingbird hovers at a cactus blossom, beating the air with thrumming wings.

[HUMMINGBIRD WINGS SOUNDS]

A Mourning Dove coos.

[DOVE COOS]

Spring rains rejuvenate the desert.

[BIRD SONG CONTINUES]

I’m Michael Stein.

CURWOOD: To see some photos of the all these birds, flap your way to our website LOE.org.

[###
Written by Bob Sundstrom
Sounds of the desert recorded at Anza Borrego Desert State Park [California] by Gordon Hempton, soundtracker.com. Featured call of Morning Dove provided by Macaulay Library at Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, recorded by W.R. Fish.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2013 Tune In to Nature.org April 2013 Narrator: Michael Stein]

 

Links

Check out this episode on the Birdnote® website