I wanted to alert folks who, like me, may not be expert auditory birders: it might be a good idea to visually confirm your black-and-white warblers before submitting such sightings to databases.
On a recent walk at Hidden Ponds (below Tunk Mtn), I saw and heard a BWWA from the parking lot and then proceeded to count "lots" of BWWAs along the trail by ear. After a while, a nagging voice got louder telling me that something seemed off. I thought one of these birds might be a bay-breasted warbler, which has a similar song. I stalked a bird for a while and it turned out to be a blackburnian. Soon afterward I confirmed a second blackburnian doing this particular song. I'll try to attach the voice memo I recorded with my phone.
I use the Sibley birding app on my phone, which does not include this version of the song. Blackburnians definitely have squeaky songs but all the Sibley versions have a high-pitched rising note or rising "trillip" double note following the squeaky wheel phrase. Perhaps I was just unable to hear those end-notes. Either way, it can lead to erroneous "sightings."
A friend has subsequently mentioned having the same experience so it seemed worth sending out a caution on this.
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