or downloads for your cat’s iPod?
Late one star-lit night, a friend told us a tale. We were gathered around a roaring fire, in the company of consumed beers, under a clear sky, and clutching our sides from laughing too much.
“Tell us again!” we begged, “what kind of bird?”
“It’s a cheeseburger bird!” he insisted.
?corraborating proof that he’s not bonkers. I guess we owe Steve an apology. Cheeseburger birds are real!
“Some of the Eastern Sierra songbirds and the music they play are The Hermit Thrush, though often more heard than seen, has clear flute-like notes are among the most beautiful of all songbirds. The Mountain Chickadee, also are more heard than seen, has a distinctive “chick-a-dee” call. They are also referred to as the “cheeseburger bird” due to their spring/summer call that sounds similar to “cheese-bur-ger”.”
birds often heard around frat parties, from Biologycorner.com
- Bird Name? Mnemonic
- Blackbird, Brewer’s? whiskey
- Chickadee, Black-capped? cheeseburger
- Flycatcher, Acadian? pizza
- Flycatcher, Alder? free beer
- Flycatcher, Olive-sided? quick, three beers!
- Goldfinch, American? potato chips
- Owl, Barred? who cooks for you, who cooks for you all?
- Plover, Semipalmated? chewy, chewy
this is further proof that bird watchers are a curious lot (or just hungry and thirsty!).
25 Comments
I grew up in the Truckee/Lake Tahoe area and very much remember the beloved ?cheeseburger bird’. I now live in the pacific northwest and have only heard them here a few times, usually way up Lake Chelan or Tumwater Canyon.
I’m looking forward to listening for these other bird calls. Thanks for the link.
I love the cheeseburger bird song. Only one problem, every time I hear its song I gain 2 pounds!
Thank you for answering the nagging question of my ages! I have wondered about this bird since I was a boy (1960?s) and would wake to these calls in Paradise in the western Sierra foothills.
Recectly determined to find the answer, I could not find anyone who knew this bird’s true name.
This morning again, I awoke to the Cheeseburger bird outside my window and thought-”Google!” Is there a bird that says that?
I can rest in peace.
Oh My gosh! Thank you so much!!! I have been wondering what bird has been teasing me with the cheeseburger song since I was a liitle girl. I live in South Lake Tahoe and we hear the Mountain Chickadee all the time.
My eternal thanks!
I grew up in Metaline, WA (100 miles north of Spokane, WA) and heard the cheeseburger bird quite often?.so often that now living in Deer Park, WA I rather miss hearing them. The sound of the bird has been replaced by coyotes as the most regularly heard animal sound?although I now hear pheasants & quail more often living here than in Metaline. It did help to live next to a large pond I think. I tell people about the bird and they more often laugh at me because they have never heard it. Im happy to now know which bird it really is. thanks
Thanks for proving me right. I knew the cheeseburger bird exsisted!!
Thanks for the info. I always wondered what bird made the “cheeseburger” sound. Now waiting to hear, “fries with that”?.lol
i lived in truckee for awile when i was a kid my dad and i would go hiking and i would follow saying cheeee burger. imatating the bird song i would hear. now i live in texas i wake up one morning and i hear cheeeeese burger again im happy they live here in texas too.
I would add a word from that immortal Saturday Night Live skit, “Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, chips!” I always here the “chips” at the end of the call.
Having worked at a kids camp in the Truckee/Soda Springs area, we heard a lot from the Mountain Chickadee?
The kids in our groups LOVED copying them. I think in any given morning, you could hear at least 50 random kids saying CHEEEEESE-buuurgerrr.
so fun.
yippee thanks for the help showing my hubby cheeseburger birds are real. i grew up in northlake tahoe and heard them all the time..
We have a cheeseburger bird here in Atlantic Canada. I’ve never seen one but have heard them many times. Along with my own observations, and what the other springtime forecasters have to say (various groundhogs) the cheeseburger bird is a sure sign of spring.
We have the ”cheeseburger,cheeseburger” bird here in Baltimore Maryland too.I’m surprised to hear that such a big word comes from such a little bird!!!
Thank you so much, what a relief. We actually called the Audubon Society to find out what bird this was, and they told us it was the Robin’s mating call!! We knew that couldn’t be right, so now we have the real answer. We live in Surrey, B.C. and hear them every morning, they are all over B.C.and we always know it’s spring when they sing.
I am so grateful for Google! My daughter and I awoke to the sound of this bird calling for its lunchtime meal and after listening to it over and over(and over),I realized we HAD to know its proper name. Although Mountain Chickadee is not as fun as Cheeseburger Bird, we can now rest easy. (That is, whenever this bird stops the insanity!)
I TOO lIVED IN LAKE TAHOE AND EACH YEAR WE MARKED THE RETURN OF SPRING BY THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE?BUT?TO US IT WAS THE BIRD-DOO-DOO BIRD. THIS YEAR I FIRST HEARD HIM ON APRIL 2ND.NOTE:I’VE NEVER SEEN ?HIM’ AND USUALLY ONLY HEAR HIM IN THE MORNING AND EVENING.i CALL MY FRIEND IN PA. TO ANNOUNCE HIS RETURN EACH YEAR.
I have heard the “cheeseburger” song but I have always lived near Binghamton, N.Y. Could never figure out what bird it was because it was always int the tree tops. I wonder if it is the same species you have on the west coast?
Thanks so much for this information! Even though I see the Black-capped Chickadee later in the day at the birdfeeder (here in mid-Michigan), it is never saying “cheeseburger” then, so I’ve been perplexed about which bird could be waking me up hungry for a cheeseburger. I’m so relieved to be able to tell my husband, Mr. Late Sleeper, that I’m not the only one waking up to “cheeseburger! cheeseburger!”
The Cheeseburger birdy is real! I hear it all the time in Vancouver, British Columbia. Thanks to this website I know I am not going crazy!
June 2009 My husband and I were camping at Lundy Lake, Ca, and at 6:00 am there was a distinct “cheesburger” call coming RELENTLESSLY from the trees. We never saw the bird, but his song got us laughing harder and harder every time he sang. We still whistle “cheesburger” to one another as our own memory of that camping trip.
Thank you for confirming that we aren’t crazy.
Lavon
Bishop, CA
Thank you so much for comfirming which bird is the “cheeseburger” singer. I hear it all the time and have never figured out what bird it is. I live in Northern Alberta and we have a variety of birds and who knew the most common one is the cheeseburger culprit.
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anyone know a bird that goes something like this : doo? do, do, do, do dododo? kinda hard to wxplain over a computer its killing me haha
I too have heard the cheese burger bird. We live in Coventry, RI. At first I thought someones parrot escaped and was looking for food!!
I used to live in north Lake Tahoe and I moved back to PA and have heard many cheese-burger calls this spring It reminded me so much of being in Tahoe. I did some
Research and the chick-a-dee’s here make that call in late spring early summer. How cool
