Calling You from My Cell

by Ian Tullis
Answer: TERN

This puzzle relates the sounds of bird calls to the sounds of telephone calls. The dial tones produce area codes, each of which is associated with a different state. The bird calls all come from state birds. These two sets of states are the same. Although some of the birds (like the Northern Cardinal) are state birds for more than one state, only one of the possible states will have an area code in this puzzle.

The states of the area codes following each call do not match the states of the bird calls. This links all of the calls together in a loop. That is, the Hawaiian bird dials the California area code, the California bird dials the Alabama area code, etc.

Start Time	Bird	State Bird	Area Code	Locale
0:01.6	Purple Finch	New Hampshire	202	District of Columbia
0:07.4	Eastern Bluebird	New York	203	Connecticut
0:12.5	California Quail	California	205	Alabama
0:18.9	Ruffed Grouse	Pennsylvania	208	Idaho
0:32.2	Nene [Hawaiian Goose]	Hawaii	start_dialtone 209	California
0:41.6	American Goldfinch	Iowa	212	New York
0:48.2	Carolina Wren	South Carolina	215	Pennsylvania
0:54.3	Western Meadowlark	Wyoming	217	Illinois
0:59.8	Northern Cardinal	Illinois	303	Colorado
1:10.3	Wood Thrush	District of Columbia	307	Wyoming
1:20.5	Roadrunner	New Mexico	319	Iowa
1:27.6	Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher	Oklahoma	401	Rhode Island
1:38.1	Mockingbird	Arkansas	405	Oklahoma
2:01.1	American Robin	Connecticut	479	Arkansas
2:08.3	Ring-Necked Pheasant [Common Pheasant]	South Dakota	480	Arizona
2:12.4	Willow Ptarmigan	Alaska	505	New Mexico
2:19.6	Cactus Wren	Arizona	603	New Hampshire
2:26.2	Rhode Island Red [Chicken]	Rhode Island	605	South Dakota
2:31.6	Yellowhammer [Northern Flicker]	Alabama	803	South Carolina
2:41.7	Lark Bunting	Colorado	808 hangup	Hawaii
2:50.5	Mountain Bluebird	Idaho	907	Alaska

These associations can be put into a loop, starting with CA (area code 209 is preceded by a neutral dial tone) and ending with area code 808 (after which there is the sound of a phone hanging up.) The full loop is: CA/AL/SC/PA/ID/AK/NM/IA/NY/CT/AR/OK/RI/SD/AZ/NH/DC/WY/IL/CO/HI. The first letters of the states spell out CASPIAN, INCA, OR SANDWICH, each of which is a kind of TERN.