Program Content

The male song sparrow sings over 9 hours a day during the breeding season. One red-eyed vireo sang over 22,000 songs in a single day. Both illustrate the importance of song for courtship and territorial display.

Sound Sources

Chris Tenney recorded the Hutton's vireo in Salinas and the song sparrow in the Los Padres National Forest. The red-eyed vireo's song can be found on the CD collection A Field Guide to Western Bird Songs produced by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology for the Peterson Field Guide Series.