The other morning, my eyes opened about an hour earlier than usual to the sound of birds chirping outside. Ah, nature’s alarm clock. For the Washington Post, Alyssa Fowers, Leslie Shapiro, and Emily M. Eng tabulated the most common birds in each county during the year. Press play to hear the songs.
The Washington Post worked with bird-sighting lists from eBird to determine the most common migratory birds every month from February through May in each county in the contiguous U.S. in 2023 and 2024. Only counties with at least 20 birdwatching lists each week were included. Any bird present in the first week of February and the last week of May was considered a resident of that county and excluded from that county’s spring soundtrack. In counties with more than five birds per month, the five most common migratory birds were included.
