But maybe part of me thinks they are so cute because of their song. The Eastern Wood-Pewee is a bird that “says its name” — you can hear the bird sing “peee-weeeee!” And they way they sing it reminds me so much of a whiney toddler! It makes me chuckle in an indulgent “well, at least it’s not my kid whining this time!” sort of way.

Photo by Kelly Colgan Azar FCC

This group of noisy, rambunctious birds are often called “seagulls” though to be correct, it’s just “gulls.” But, from childhood “Seagulls” is how we learn to talk about them, so it’s more of a term of endearment, right? There are a number of gull species reported in southern Wisconsin, but the two most common are the ones we’ll focus on in Who’s That Singing?" today: the Ring-billed Gull and the American Herring Gull.

Photo by Arlene Koziol