Thirty-five year-old Juan Pablo Culasso could well be considered an avian polyglot. Born blind, the Uruguayan has never seen a bird, yet has learnt to recognise 3,000 bird calls and can differentiate 720 species. As Culasso knows, learning the language of our feathered friends takes practice, but while you might not reach his level of fluency, these prompts from Jon Young’s What The Robin Knows will get you started. Adopt a sit spot. Visit the same location regularly so you get to know your local birds. Focus on five species, tuning into their ‘baseline behaviour’, when they’re relaxed and going about their day, so you can recognise any calls that fall outside of this. Next, learn five vocalisations. Most avian chatter can be categorised as alarm calls, territorial aggression, juvenile…
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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2024