This is Bird Note.

American Robins begin piping up in late winter, and then sing all through spring and summer, sometimes well into fall too.

One way to remember their song's pattern is with the words,

cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up.

The Baltimore Oriole has a pretty similar song.

At first, you might think there's no way to tell these two

cheery, upbeat singers apart.

But there are a couple of differences.

The Robin has that whole sentence to say,

cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up.

In contrast, the Oriole usually stops after a phrase or two.

After a while, you might start to hear more subtle distinctions.

Baltimore Orioles sounds sweeter, more melodic than American Robins,

who can come across a little screechy at times.

Once more, here's the long-winded robin.

And the short and sweet oriole.

Listen for these sweet singers, wherever you get your bird song.

For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.

This episode is brought to you by Wild Delight Bird Food, which aims to support bird populations with clean, nutritious ingredients in every blend.

Available at chewy.com.