26 March 2026
Songbird migration kicks off with two small birds that are easiest to find if you can hear them.
The brown creeper (Certhia americana) climbs and zigzags up tree trunks and large branches, probing under the bark for insects. When he reaches the top he flies down to the base of the next tree and climbs up again. He’s hard to see because he flattens himself against the tree and his back matches the bark. However he makes a high pitched contact call that helps pinpoint his location.
Here’s the sound of a brown creeper foraging at Seal Island, Nova Scotia. Do you hear the low horn in the harbor? Can you hear the brown creeper’s call?
Golden-crowned kinglets (Regulus satrapa) are tiny birds that flit and hover as they forage for insects in the trees. Because they move a lot I notice them when I look at the silhouettes of bare branches against the sky. They also make high-pitched contact calls.
Here’s a golden-crowned kinglet calling as it forages in New Hampshire, repeating his single note throughout the recording. Near the end you’ll hear the low “brock” of a raven and then the “ank ank ank” of a red-breasted nuthatch. The kinglet speaks as well, before the raven and after the nuthatch. Can you hear him?
I used to identify these two species by sound but I cannot hear them anymore. Kinglets were the first to go. Seven years ago I wrote about upper-range hearing loss:
If you can’t hear kinglets [and brown creepers] you are probably over age 65, perhaps younger, and probably have age-related hearing loss. Presbycusis affects 1 out of 3 of people by age 65 and half of us by age 75.
See a video of loud golden-crowned kinglets in my 2019 article: