There are a few different birds that are known for making a “tweet tweet tweet” sound. This onomatopoeic chirping is most commonly associated with small songbirds. The tweet is a short, high-pitched chirp that these birds use to communicate with each other.
Some of the most common birds that make this sound include finches, canaries, sparrows, wrens, warblers, and chickadees. These small perching birds all have vocalizations that sound like “tweet tweet tweet” to our ears. The songs and calls of these birds are an integral part of nature’s chorus.
Chickadees
One of the birds most famous for its “tweet tweet tweet” call is the chickadee. These tiny acrobatic birds are found throughout North America. They are known for their big round heads, black caps and bibs, and fluffy bodies.
Chickadees have a large repertoire of vocalizations. Their most recognizable is a simple two or three note whistle that says “chick-a-dee-dee-dee”. This is where they get their name. They make this call repeatedly as contact notes when moving through trees and bushes.
Chickadees also have a short fast call that sounds like “tweedle-dee”. This call is similar to the “tweet tweet” sound, but faster paced and higher pitched. Chickadees use this tweedle call during feeding or to signal alertness or mild alarm.
Carolina Chickadee
The Carolina chickadee is found in the southeastern United States. This species has a black cap and bib, gray wings and back, and a soft tan belly. Their song is a whistled “fee-bee fee bay” but they are best known for their familiar chick-a-dee-dee call.
Black-capped Chickadee
The black-capped chickadee is found throughout most of northern North America. Their black cap extends down covering the cheeks and throat. This species makes the standard chickadee calls but they have a slower more nasal fee-bee song.
Boreal Chickadee
The boreal chickadee is found in the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska. They have brown caps, gray backs, and white sides with bold black and white markings on the wings. Their chickadee-dee call is higher, faster, and raspier than other chickadees.
Titmouse
Another type of bird that makes “tweet”-like calls is the titmouse. There are several titmouse species found throughout North America. These plump little birds are gray, olive, or brown on the back with whitish undersides.
Like chickadees, titmice move actively through branches and make frequent contact calls. One of their most common calls is a repeating nasal whistle that often sounds like “peter-peter-peter”. Some species have a call more like a rolling “weet-weet-weet”. These calls resemble the “tweet tweet” sound made by other small birds.
Tufted Titmouse
The tufted titmouse is common in deciduous eastern forests. They are gray above and white below with a black forehead and crest. Their song is a whistled “peter-peter” and their call is fast and nasal, like “peto-peto-peto”.
Bridled Titmouse
The bridled titmouse inhabits scrubby oak woodlands of western North America. Their pale bib gives them their name. Their whistled call is a “whee-whee-wheedle” with a descending note.
Oak Titmouse
Found in oak woodlands of the west coast, the oak titmouse is drab gray-brown above with a rusty belly. It makes a variety of whistled calls like “weet”, “sweet-chew”, and “tweet”.
Sparrows
Many sparrow species also produce sounds reminiscent of “tweet tweet”. Sparrows are ubiquitous small brown birds of fields, woods, and thickets across North America.
They have a large repertoire of chirps and chips that they use to stay in contact with each other as they forage on the ground. The chip notes especially can sound like high-pitched tweeting.
Chipping Sparrow
One species that really does sound like it is saying “tweet”, is the chipping sparrow. These small rusty-capped sparrows make a very high, thin “tseep tseep tseep” call. This call can sound almost exactly like a human imitating a tweet.
Chipping sparrows use this call constantly when they are active. Listen for it in parks, yards, and gardens where these birds feed and nest.
Song Sparrow
Song sparrows are another common backyard tweeter. These streaky brown birds sing a lovely song, but also make short buzzy “tsep” calls. Listen for these tweeting notes mixed into their melody when they are perched on fences, bushes, and feeders.
White-crowned Sparrow
The white-crowned sparrow breeds in Alaska and Canada and migrates south for winter. Their calls includes sharp repeated “tseep” and buzzy “dzee” notes that resemble tweets. Listen for these sounds while strolling woods and trails where they forage on the ground.
Finches
Many types of finches also make sounds similar to tweets. Finches have conical beaks adapted for cracking seeds. There are several finch families found world-wide.
In North America we have chickadees, grosbeaks, redpolls, crossbills, goldfinches, and siskins. Many mix “tweet”-like calls into their chattery flocks. Chirped chips, wheezes, and whistles while feeding help keep the groups together.
American Goldfinch
The bright yellow males and olive female American goldfinches breed across North America. Their flight call is a sweet down-slurred “po-ta-to-chip” but they mix in high thin “sree” notes and fast “dit-dit-dit” chips that can resemble tweets.
Pine Siskin
Pine siskins are brown streaky little finches common at thistle and nyger feeders, especially in winter flocks. They have buzzy rising “zhreeee” calls and rhythmic chips that capture the quality of tweets.
Common Redpoll
Redpolls are irruptive winter finches of the far north. In periodic flights south, flocks descend on northern bird feeders to frantically eat nyger and sunflower seeds. Their calls include metallic chips, buzzes, and rising warbled notes that twitter excitedly.
Wrens
The family of small, active wrens also includes some great twittering species. Most have a zipping jittery quality to their movements. Their vocalizations match with high-pitched raspy calls used to maintain contact in dense brush.
Carolina Wren
The warm brown Carolina wren pumps its tail as it hops through brush piles singing loud teakettle songs. Their calls include scolding “tchrr” notes and fast repetitive chips like “dit-dit–dit” that sound very tweet-like.
Marsh Wren
The marsh wren breeds in reedy wetland across the continent. Its buzzing, rattling songs ring from the cattails. Its call is a dry buzzing “tzrrr” and a harsh “chit’ that carries the quality of tweets.
Rock Wren
Rock wrens flit their tails over rocky slopes of the western mountains and deserts. Their buzzy nasal call goes “znrrrt” and they mix in quicker “dit” chips while hopping over rocks.
Kinglets
The tiny hyperactive kinglets are another group of birds whose calls resemble tweets. These tiny sprites flit and hover through treetops and fields. Their movements and vocalizations are almost constant.
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned kinglets breed across Canada and the northern States. Their thin “tsee” call is a distinctive component of the north woods soundscape. These repeated calls sound like very high chipmunks tweeting.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned kinglets winter across the southern States after breeding farther north. They stay in constant motion, flicking their wings and making repeated thin, high “tseet” calls wherever they feed. These notes precisely match the quality and cadence of tweets.
Warblers
Many of the small colorful warblers produce their own versions of tweet sounds as well. The array of chips, seeps, and sweets are handy for staying in contact as warblers busily feed and move through trees.
Yellow Warbler
The bright yellow males of this common warbler species sing a sweet “sweet sweet I’m so sweet” song. Their call is a thin seep like “tsip”, sometimes doubled. These calls ring out over fields andyards, sounding much like tweets.
Palm Warbler
Palm warblers breed in bogs and marshes across Canada. They bob their tails slowly up and down, an easy way to ID them. Their call is a repeated “tseet”, sounding almost electronic in its consistency and tweeting quality.
Pine Warbler
Pine warblers make their homes in pine forests of the southeast. Listen for their trilling songs and calls that include buzzy “tssseet” notes, like tweets dropped into a blender.
Waxwings
Waxwings are unique crested birds named for the waxy-looking tips on some of their wing feathers. These are nomadic fruit-eating birds of the north. They travel in large flocks, descending on berry trees andCALLBACK shrubs in winter.
The two species in North America are the Bohemian waxwing of the far north and the Cedar waxwing more common in the lower states and southern Canada. Both make high-pitched quavering calls containing buzzy notes that resemble tweets. Flocks keep in contact with constant soft trills, whispers, and buzzy chips. Listen for huge flocks migrating at night or stop to appreciate large Bohemian waxwings flocks passing through in winter.
The wispy trills and whistles of waxwing flocks have an almost alien electronic twitter quality as they call back and forth while feeding.
Canary
Canaries are popular cage birds originally bred from wild finch species of the Canary Islands. Wild canaries make twittering sounds similar to their wild finch ancestors.
Domestic canaries have been bred into a dizzying array of colors, shapes and singing styles. The common “Roller” canary was bred to have a twittering song, with a mix of chirps, tweets, whistles, and buzzes flowing together in an energetic cascade. Not all domestic canaries retain the twittering quality, but their songs often mix tweet-like phrases into their repertoire.
So if you hear a repeated “tweet tweet tweet” coming from a cage, it very well could be a canary showing off its Roller heritage.
Conclusion
Many species make sounds that we hear as “tweet” or twittering. Chickadees, titmice, some sparrows, finches, wrens, kinglets, and warblers are some of the common birds that include tweet-like chips, seeps, or whistles in their vocal repertoire. Even large nomadic flocks of waxwings can sound twittering to our ears. And the popular canary is probably the bird most classically associated with a tweet tweet tweet song.
So next time you hear a cheerful twittering sound floating on the breeze, take a moment to appreciate how many birds share this musical shorthand. Their high-pitched chips, seeps, chirps, and whistles are a constant background music of nature, and a reminder of the common threads connecting so many small melodious songbird species.