Common Cuckoo

Cuculus Canorus

For Dawn Chorus participants and bird song lovers everywhere, the ‘cuckoo!’ cry is one of the iconic sounds of spring. Sadly the common cuckoo bird is on the decline worldwide, partly due to the loss of suitable habitats and climate change. Specifically, the cuckoo, which migrates each year, is known for depositing its egg into the nest of a host which then incubates and feeds the cuckoo chicks that hatch. But while many other species are more flexible in their timing of arrival at their breeding grounds, the cuckoo’s return, each spring, is strongly predetermined. This means that the cuckoo’s highly specialized reproductive strategy (egg-dumping) becomes increasingly ineffective because their hosts may already have chicks or be done with their first clutch by the time the cuckoo lays its egg in their nest.

Bird song recording courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

Great Tit

Parus Major

While the great tit is an extremely common bird (ranking second most recognised bird in Dawn Chorus), highly flexible in terms of both, nesting and food, they are likely to become endangered if the climate changes too quickly. The reason for this relates to food supplies. When spring arrives early, the trees leaf out earlier, causing the larvae that feed on these plants to emerge earlier. Since the great tit belongs to a group of species for which early chick survival depends on the abundance of these larvae, must correctly time its breeding to the ever-changing arrival of spring so as to successfully feed and raise its hatchlings. This fluctuating availability of peak food supplies could greatly put the great tit (and many other species) at risk.

Bird song recording courtesy of acclivity of freesound.org.

House Sparrow

Passer Domesticus

The house sparrow is one of the top three species recognized by Dawn Chorus participants for reasons obvious to those who love birds – these little fellows appear to be everywhere. This is partly because house sparrows prefer to live in urban and rural settings populated by humans. In Southern Germany, “Spatz” is even a common nickname for a loved one. At the same time, their numbers have drastically declined in some areas (as much as 60%), which is a major reason for concern. For example, in cities like Munich, the birds have almost disappeared for lack of nesting sites whereas in other places, their disappearance might be due to a variety of factors, including shortages of food, diseases such as avian malaria, and air pollution.

Bird song recording courtesy of Thomas Ryder Payne: Toronto based sound designer, composer, and musician.

Blackcap

Sylvia Atricapilla

Beloved for their musical songs, blackcaps sing to a wide fan base, including ears in Europe, western Asia, and northwestern Africa. Thankfully, they are currently neither rare nor endangered (blackcaps were the fourth most recognized species for Dawn Chorus participants), but which may change if their living conditions change too quickly, for example through rapid climate change or habitat destruction. Also, some restaurants in Cyprus still secretly serve ambelopoulia – a dish made up of illegally caught wild songbirds. As the blackcaps and other birds migrate through Cyprus, poachers use both vast nets and sticks coated with glue to catch hundreds of thousands of them. Besides being painful and tortuous, this industrial-scale trapping poses a danger to more than 150 bird species.

Bird song recording courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

European Robin

Erithacus Rubecula

The robin was celebrated by German bird protection agencies as the “bird of the year” in 2021. Often featured on Christmas cards, robins are loved for their crystal clear songs that can be heard even during winter. They are also easily identifiable, especially in the snow, thanks to their beautiful, red chests, which are a part of their visual signature. Because robins often sing at night, they are sometimes confused with nightingales. While the European populations are widespread and stable, nevertheless, robins still have their threats, including harsh winters, predation by e.g. other birds or cats, and insecticides sprayed on lawns.

Bird song recording courtesy of acclivity of freesound.org

Common Blackbird

Turdus Merula

The wonderfully melodious songs of the common blackbirds, originally adapted to be sung and heard in woodland areas, are well known to Dawn Chorus participants (where they were the number one most recognized species) and anyone who appreciates beautiful bird songs. Sadly, although the blackbirds with their melodic songs are still the most commonly found bird in European gardens, they are threatened by the Usutu virus (USUV): a disease transmitted by mosquitoes that emerged in Europe in the late 90s. While the effect of USUV on different bird species varies, blackbirds are amongst the worst affected, leading to their decline in large numbers in some areas.

Bird song recording courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

Eurasian Wren

Troglodytes Troglodytes

The wren is a tiny brown bird, often more likely to be heard than seen (and recognized by its voice because of this). Its song is extremely loud and clear, especially for the bird’s very small size. Often praised in European folklore, the wren was even considered the “king of all birds” by some. Aesop mentions in a fable that the clever wren hide in the eagle’s feathers to “fly “ higher than it. Since the bird who flies highest would be the king of all animals. This trickery did not intronate the wren but apparently led to his name in many languages. The wren seeks protection in dense vegetation but which, unfortunately, is often removed as humans build new properties or cut down hedges for agricultural efficiency. In doing so, humans have caused the Wren to be under a threat in highly urban or developed areas.

Bird song courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

Western Jackdaw

Coeleus Monedula

The Western Jackdaw is the smallest of the black corvids (ravens, crows) found in Europe. It has shiny black plumage, with a purple or blue sheen on its light grey crown. They also have beautiful blue-grey eyes. The Jackdaw lives in groups and joins other corvids at feeding grounds during the day, flying many kilometers in the evening to go to sleep in a huge mixed-species flock of black birds (roosting sites). Despite its gregariousness, Jackdaws form social pairs at a young age and remain together to raise their broods “until death does them part”. Jackdaws breed in nooks and crannies in old trees, cliffs, or buildings. This particular breeding biology makes them vulnerable to human impact, for example deforestation, “tidy forests”, or building refurbishment. To stave off the loss of jackdaw populations in areas where human populations or industries have disrupted their breeding sites, special measures can be taken, for example putting up nest boxes.

Golden Oriole

Oriolus Oriolus

This brightly yellow bird with a beautiful red eye isn’t just an eye-catcher, it’s also a wonderful singer with an unmistakable flute-like song. Because their breeding grounds cover a vast territory, from Western Europe and Scandinavia to Eastern China, they are thought to be entirely stable. The reality is not so simple. In its European breeding grounds, for example, the golden oriole lives mainly in riparian forests which used to run along most rivers, but which have been drained and extremely reduced in a lot of areas today. Besides being a harbor for biodiversity, these forests also provide natural protection against flooding. As human populations expand into such areas, or drain the characteristic rivers, brooks and bodies of standing water, humans threaten not only the natural features of the landscape that developed over long periods of geological time, but also all the species that depend on them, including the golden oriole.

Bird song recording courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

Stop and listen. Watch evolution unfold.

Learn more about each bird at the end of each video

Survival

Songs

Survival Songs is a haunting audio visual series, by multimedia artists Marcel Karnapke and Mika Johnson, inspired by Dawn Chorus. By pairing nine iconic Dawn Chorus bird species with stories about their threats, Survival Songs seeks to create an awareness around the dangers that birds face everywhere. Made up of nine videos, each 66 seconds in length, the works are intended as portals to a single event, 66 million years ago, when the Earth was hit by an asteroid roughly 10 km across, causing the fifth mass extinction. Due to the destructive force of this impact, the climate was radically altered, which led to the extinction of three fourths of all living species. This included all of the dinosaurs except one, ‘birds’.

In the midst of the sixth mass extinction, this one caused by humans, Survival Songs asks us to hear the songs of birds as echoes of their evolution. To represent this, the bird songs have been stretched, mutated so as to unlock their sonic mysteries in time. Meanwhile, an animation of each bird’s eye mimics their evolution, each second equalling one million years. Whether birds make it through this present mass extinction, the Anthropocene, is in part up to us humans, as we alone have the power to research and respond to the worldwide threats to birds.

Graphic design by Jakub Tranta / Daisy With Rider

Common Cuckoo

Cuculus Canorus

Great Tit

Parus Major

House Sparrow

Passer Domesticus

Blackcap

Sylvia Atricapilla

European Robin

Erithacus Rubecula

Common Blackbird

Turdus Merula

Eurasian Wren

Troglodytes Troglodytes

Western Jackdaw

Coeleus Monedula

Golden Oriole

Oriolus Oriolus

Survival

Songs

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