What bird says peter, peter, peter?

The bird whistling peter, peter, peter is almost always a Tufted Titmouse, a small, crested gray bird that lives all year in woods, parks and shady suburbs across the eastern United States. The song is a whistled run of four to eight notes in a pe-ter, pe-ter rhythm, repeated over and over, and it can start up on a mild day in the middle of winter. In southern and central Texas, the same song comes from the closely related Black-crested Titmouse. The Carolina Wren and the Northern Cardinal are two loud singers that can be mistaken for it.

Listen: the likeliest bird

The sources agree on this one. Audubon's field guide describes the song as a whistled series of notes sounding like Peter-Peter, and its summary of the species calls it the whistled peter-peter-peter song. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation puts the titmouse on its list of mnemonic birds to learn by ear, writing the quickly repeated song as Peter, Peter, Peter.

Take the name away and the pattern is simple. Audubon counts four to eight notes per run and says the run is repeated over and over, and it files the call pattern under falling. You do not have to wait for spring to hear it, either: Audubon notes the song can turn up even during midwinter thaws.

Titmice are common all year in eastern forests and stay put, living in deciduous woods with tall trees, groves, shade trees, orchards and even city parks where the trees are big enough. They are relatives of the chickadees and, like them, come to feeders, usually flying off with one sunflower seed at a time. Audubon adds that feeders may be helping the species push its range steadily north. When something disturbs them, titmice give scolding calls instead, which the Oklahoma article mentions in the same breath as the song.

In Texas: the Black-crested Titmouse

If you are hearing peter, peter, peter in southern or central Texas, the bird is probably a Black-crested Titmouse. Audubon calls it a characteristic bird of much of that part of the state, reaching only barely into southwestern Oklahoma, and describes its song as similar to the Tufted Titmouse's peter-peter-peter. The one difference Audubon notes by ear: a song made of a single repeated note is more common in the Black-crested than in the Tufted.

It lives in brushlands, woods, riverside groves and some well-wooded suburbs and parks, and it is widespread in south Texas brush country, though it may be commoner in the taller trees along rivers. Like its eastern cousin, it is a permanent resident and seldom wanders. The two were once treated as a single species. Where their ranges meet in east-central Texas they sometimes interbreed, and the hybrids can show a dark gray crest and a reddish brown forehead.

Other whistlers that sound like it

The Oklahoma article describes the Carolina Wren shouting teakettle, teakettle, teakettle through the woods, or cheeseburger if you are hungry, and notes that pairs stay together all year, with the female sometimes adding a rattle while the male sings. Count the syllables: peter is two beats, teakettle is three.

The cardinal is trickier, because one of its songs is also a repeated two-part whistle. Audubon writes the cardinal's song as a rich what-cheer, cheer, cheer, a purty-purty-purty-purty or a sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet, and adds a metallic chip call. A purty run on its own can pass for a titmouse, so keep listening: if the same bird gives a what-cheer or a metallic chip, it is a cardinal. The Oklahoma writer says a singing cardinal makes her think of a laser gun in a video game, which is a fair description of the richer, zippier tone.

How to tell which one you heard

• Two beats, four to eight times, then again: Tufted Titmouse in the East, Black-crested Titmouse in southern and central Texas.
• One note repeated, in Texas: still a titmouse, and more often the Black-crested, which uses the one-note song more than its eastern cousin does.
• Three beats, shouted: Carolina Wren, the teakettle bird.
• A run that turns into what-cheer, or a metallic chip between songs: Northern Cardinal.
• If you see it: the Tufted Titmouse is gray and white with a perky crest, a black forehead and rusty sides. The Black-crested Titmouse has a black crest and a white forehead. A male cardinal is the only red bird with a crest.

If the whistler stays hidden in the leaves, Warble can listen and name the singer from the song alone.

Questions people ask

Warble is a game, not a field guide. Facts about birds on this page come from the sources above.