What bird is singing in this Taylor Swift song? 🐦 #birdsounds

A fun game show where we ask contestants to identify birds in the background sound mix of popular media (TV, movies, games, and music). based on the sounds theyshort

Heard That Bird? Scientists ID bird sounds in popular media

'Heard That Bird' |Science| G6-12 (en-US)

Ximena Leon

PhD Student

Sarah Hourihan

Undergraduate Student

Jay Love, PhD

Research Associate

Clint Francis, PhD

Associate Professor

Trevor Price, PhD

Professor

Fernando Mateos-Gonzalez, PhD

Conservation Biologist

Lauryn Benedict, PhD

Laura Vander Meiden, PhD

Freelance Data Analyst

Brandy Williams

Faiza Hafeez

Acknowledgments

#### Connection to Research
 In this lesson, students directly play alongside scientists who are working to better understand bird communication. They see how an undergrad, graduate student, and professor work together and deal with uncertainty. They also learn a few useful terms and approaches for understanding natural sounds.  
#### Research Background
 We don’t need to learn how to cry or laugh, but some of our abilities—like speaking a language—we need to learn over time. Like humans, some birds learn to sing and communicate by interacting with others in their community. Nicole Creanza’s lab looks at how these learned singing behaviors came to be, and how they are evolving over time. Learning more about bird communication helps us to better understand our own human language.  
#### Further Reading from Dr. Creanza and colleagues:  
**Accessible Scientific Article**
- [“How Do Birds Sing Over City Noise?” | *Frontiers for Young Minds* ](https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2021.559702)  

**Popular Press Articles**  
- [“Complex birdsongs help biologists piece together the evolution of lifelong learning” | *The Conversation*](https://theconversation.com/complex-birdsongs-help-biologists-piece-together-the-evolution-of-lifelong-learning-122009)
- [“Sexual selection in action: Birds that attract multiple mates change their songs more quickly” | *The Conversation*](https://theconversation.com/sexual-selection-in-action-birds-that-attract-multiple-mates-change-their-songs-more-quickly-111149)
- [“How people talk now holds clues about human migration centuries ago” | *The Conversation*](https://theconversation.com/how-people-talk-now-holds-clues-about-human-migration-centuries-ago-91891)
- [“A simple song can say a lot: Geographic differences in the Chipping Sparrow’s song are discovered using citizen-science recordings” | *Macaulay Library (Cornell)*](https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/2020/05/28/a-simple-song-can-say-a-lot-geographic-differences-in-the-chipping-sparrows-song-are-discovered-using-citizen-science-recordings/)
- [“How Do You Measure Birdsong? Introducing Chipper” | *Methods Blog*](https://methodsblog.com/2020/03/24/measuring-bird-song-chipper/)

Background

For very engaged students:
1. [0:11 What is the bird sound the host hears?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pjrOB1cwqo&t=11s)
2. [7:28 What is the mystery bird heard along with the hermit thrush?](https://youtu.be/3pjrOB1cwqo?si=wfsnU93cl0zDMnN3&t=444)
3. [14:36 What bird is heard in the Galactic Polymath sound logo at the very end of the video?](https://youtu.be/3pjrOB1cwqo?si=DBpn8tK_vgdaO8ms&t=871)

Answers: 1) [a female house wren](https://vimeo.com/430428929); 2) [a wild turkey](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wild_Turkey/sounds#); 3) [chimney swifts](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Chimney_Swift/sounds)

Bonus Content

**[Matt Wilkins, PhD](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattwilkinsphd/):** Hosted and directed video development and managed entire project

**[Ella Houlihan](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-houlihan-624878177/):** Led lesson material development, produced videos  

**[Stephanie Rapciak](https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-rapciak/):** Assisted lesson material development, produced videos  

**[Nicole Creanza, PhD](https://creanzalab.com/people):** Produced and participated in videos, provided feedback and fact-checking at all stages of development

Credits

### Please let us know how it went with your class!
#### We want to know what you (and/or your students) think!
Share your feedback in < 5 min with these forms:
- [For teachers](https://forms.gle/FLNgns1rQno3Wqyu5)
- [For students](https://forms.gle/tPG4FV2oVTxUVsiPA)


Feedback

JobViz Career Connections

A Pop Culture Intro to Birding by Ear

Science

#### Driving Question(s):
1. What natural sounds surround us as we go about our daily lives?
2. What can bird sounds teach us about human emotion and communication?
3. How can spectrograms (sound visualizations) be used to help us identify birds in the environment?
#### Hook(s):
Students will love playing a gameshow! They will have numerous opportunities to share their own knowledge and observations with each other.

Heard That Bird

The Gist

Driving Question(s):

Hook(s):

Lesson summaries

Heard that Bird?

Supporting Multimedia

What bird is singing in this Taylor Swift song? 🐦 #birdsounds