This is bird note.

These rich caroled phrases are among the best loved and most widely heard in North America.

This superb song belongs to perhaps our most familiar bird,

the American Robin.

As singers go, the Robin is exceptional. They're often the first birds to sing in the morning,

starting well before dawn, and the last you'll hear in the evening,

holding forth into deep twilight.

Robbins also begin singing earlier in the year than most birds,

often in midwinter.

And Robbins can be remarkably long-winded,

while their average song strings fewer than a dozen

short phrases together and lasts a few seconds.

Robin sometimes sing four minutes without a pause.

But the most extraordinary measure of Robin's song is its variety.

In each song, a Robin sings a varied selection

from a repertoire of 10 to 20 different caroling phrases.

Then as evening comes on, the same Robin interweaves these phrases with exquisite whisper-like notes

from its personal treasury of 75 to 100 different whispered notes. The potential song variety is amazing. The musical results,

enchanting.

Today's show brought to you by the Bobelink Foundation. For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.