Take 30 seconds to close your eyes and listen to the sounds of the forest around you. Write or talk about what sounds you heard, and try to identify what those noises were!
Here are some of the most common birds that you hear along the trails of the Longleaf Botanical Gardens.
Mourning Dove
Listen: Mourning Dove Song
Fun Facts:
- When you hear a Mourning Dove’s familiar cooing, the song is almost always coming from a male looking for a mate.
- The Mourning Dove is one of North America’s most adaptable species, thriving in a wide range of habitats from coast to coast.
- Mourning Doves are included in the rare bird species that can suck up liquid through their beaks like a straw, instead of having to tilt their heads back and let gravity do the work.
Carolina Chickadee
Listen: Carolina Chickadee Song
Fun Facts:
- Carolina Chickadees are monogamous and typically form long-lasting pair bonds.
- Carolina Chickadees use holes in trees as their nests; either natural cavities or sometimes old woodpecker nests.
- Carolina Chickadees are social birds and often form flocks of 8-10 birds.
Chipping Sparrow
Listen: Chipping Sparrow Song
Fun Facts:
- The Chipping Sparrow was once known as the “hair bird” due to its habit of lining its nests with horse hair.
- Chipping Sparrows migrate by night, and their flight calls are a characteristic sound of the night sky in spring and fall in the United States.
- During the nesting season, the female Chipping Sparrow develops a bare patch on her abdomen; it is filled with fluid and helps to better transfer heat to the eggs during incubation.
Alabama Birding Trails. “Chipping Sparrow.” https://alabamabirdingtrails.com/bird/chipping-sparrow/.
Alabama Birding Trails. “Common Birds of Alabama.” https://alabamabirdingtrails.com/common-birds-alabama/.
Animalia. “Carolina Chickadee.” https://animalia.bio/carolina-chickadee/1000#:~:text=Carolina%20chickadees%20are%20monogamous%20and,sometimes%20an%20old%20woodpecker%20nest.
Audubon. “10 Fun Facts About the Mourning Dove.” 4 March 2024, https://www.audubon.org/magazine/10-fun-facts-about-mourning-dove.
“Chipping Sparrow – Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio.” Animalia, https://animalia.bio/chipping-sparrow/1000#google_vignette.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Carolina Chickadee.” https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Carolina_Chickadee/id.
“This Look & Learn content is part of a 2025 Girl Scout Gold Award project by Sarah Sloughfy.”