In this White-throated Sparrow song the first note is slightly higher but after that there is almost no change in pitch. In these two species, and most others, such patterns of pitch change are consistent and offer some of the most reliable “field marks” for song identification. The song of Golden-crowned Sparrow is also a series of simple clear whistles, very similar to White-throated, but one or more of those whistles changes pitch, creating a very different song. This, and the longer notes (slower rhythm), gives it a much more “gentle” quality than the Cardinal. Unlike the sharply slurred notes of the Cardinal, the song of White-throated Sparrow is a series of clear whistles with almost no change in pitch. To learn more about reading sonagrams check out Nathan Pieplow’s excellent series beginning at

The first three notes (at the left) begin low and end high, while the following notes begin high and end low. Time advances from left to right, and sounds with higher pitch appear higher on the graph. The sonagram shown above accompanying the Cardinal recording is simply a graph of pitch over time. As you listen for these features in other songs your ability to hear them will improve. Try to follow along in the sonagram to get a better sense of the “shape” of each note. The notes at the beginning of the song are distinctly upslurred, and the notes after that are sharply downslurred.

Listen to the phrases of this Northern Cardinal song. Paying attention to pitch changes as you listen to bird songs will quickly increase your ability to detect these changes. Many species have very abrupt or very subtle upslurs or downslurs that are helpful for identification but difficult to hear. This requires some practice in order to develop a discerning ear. More useful for identifying a species is the relative pitch of parts of a song – upslurred or downslurred notes, or changes in pitch over the course of a song. In the two examples here, the rhythmic pattern of the two songs is similar – a simple two-syllabled phrase repeated several times – and the quality of both could be described as “whistled”, but the pitch of the Black-and-white Warbler song is much higher. Even so, the general pitch of a bird sound is useful for getting into the right “ballpark” for identification.

Most bird vocalizations are complex, and cover a wide range of frequencies, and there is often considerable variation in pitch within a species, making it hard to use pitch alone as an identification clue. Birds’ range of hearing is similar to our own, and bird song covers the full range to the limits of human hearing, from the lowest hooting sounds of Great Gray Owl or Spruce Grouse to the highest songs of Blackburnian Warbler or Golden-crowned Kinglet. In the second verse of the song, Joe sings, 'Walked down the aisle, breakin' my heart / Lay down my pride, I know I gotta let you go / 'Cause he's gonna love you when I gotta leave you / Gotta believe it when the Lord takes me home,' the verse described how wonderfully in love Jonas brothers are in love with their daughters.Pitch is simply our perception of the frequency (or wavelength) of a sound, which we describe as high to low. The Jonas Brothers have five daughters: Kevin, 35, and wife Danielle Jonas, 36, are parents to Alena, 9, and Valentina, 6 Joe, 33, and wife Sophie Turner, 27, are parents to Willa, 2, and a 10-month-old baby. We all come from somewhere, and we have a story to tell, and so while it's kind of our story, I think it's also universal and opens itself up to be something that parents and kids of all kinds will relate to and connect with,' Nick added, as per a report by a media. 'It's also very personal to us, but something that everyone can relate to. And it's the first time we've ever done that in our music, so it's pretty exciting to have people hear it soon.' So we're speaking about the most important thing in our whole world, which is being parents. It's about fatherhood, and we're all girl dads.

Singer Nick Jonas expressed his thoughts about the song by stating, 'It's probably our most personal song.

Bird song