From the book

“His is one of the finest songs among blackbirds, far richer and fuller than the slurred whistles of the Eastern Meadowlark. . . .from his bill pours rich whistled phrases, well-articulated and spaced, accelerating and dropping into a rapid, gurgling jumble . . . Stay with him and hear how he repeats a particular song over and over, and soon you’ll be treated to another of his half dozen or so songs, it, too, a striking cascade of whistles and gurgles.”

Listen to this two minute and 45 second sequence and treat yourself to five of the songs that this male meadowlark has in his repertoire. He sings two renditions of the first type, six of the next, then three, six, and one of the last type: A A B B B B B B C C C D D D D D D E. Distinguishing songs D and E is a challenge for the human ear, as D and E are especially similar; he knows these two song as different, however, as he always sings either one or the other, none in between.

From the book

“If you disturb him or if he interacts more strongly with another male, he calls out a single, explosive chupp, often followed by a dry, rolling chatter, vicicicicicicic . . . He also has a flight song, an ecstatic hurried twittering that he gives when most excited . . .”

In this first sequence, he calls out his explosive chupp for almost a minute. In the second, hear his rolling chatter, vicicicicicicic, followed by a sequence of low tonal notes; he then takes flight, the wind fluttering through his wing feathers, and shortly thereafter he erupts into his ecstatic flight song.