Episode 1: Wood Thrush - Voice of the Wild

This is Brodie with Illinois Extension and I’m here with a new “voice of the wild”

The elegant harmonies of this woodland song have greatly delayed many hikes; the haunting melody drawing hikers off the beaten trail and deep into the shaded woods. But following this song will not usually lead to ruin; it will instead lead to a robinlike bird with a rust-brown back and striking speckled chest. This is the wood thrush.

The wood thrush’s soft, multitone song is the favorite of many; including me, and while their “whip whip whip” call and their singing voice are both quite distinctive, there are some variations of the song’s metallic, trilling end, which are worth knowing and i’ll play those now:

Altogether now, here’s the wood thrush again.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for today’s sound. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW