Voice of the Wild

This is Illinois Extension’s Voice of the Wild. A new wild voice in just a moment, so find someplace quiet, take a deep breath, and enjoy.

While it is fairly common across the countryside, in a good tallgrass prairie this bird’s call can seem to come from every direction. With its yellow chest overlaid by a black triangle and its tendency to sing from fence posts, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for meadowlark. With close inspection, you’ll find this member of the cardinal family is in fact quite visually different from the meadowlark; much smaller and with a stubby finchlike beak. Any lingering confusion about the birds identify is typically short lived; that’s because it sings its name; Dick dick cissel cissel.

This is the Dickcissel, Spiza americana from the family Cardinalidae. Besides singing its name, the dickcissel has a unique call it makes in flight, a kind brisk buzz. Here’s the Dickcissel again, first singing its name, then calling, then giving that unique buzzing flight call.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for our bird sounds. And thank you for tuning in to learn a new bird call with Illinois Extension.