And a quick follow-up. Context is really helpful.
I'm visiting family in New Hampshire. This afternoon, I heard a song
across the street that was not quite like the typical Blackburnian. But it
was tiptop high in a hemlock - up where most squeaky warblers wouldn't go.
Even though the song was a little strange, I suspected Blackburnian right
away, and it was. Redstarts, chestnut-sideds, and yellows can all sing
rather strangely, but seldom from the top of a mature hemlock. Context and
behavior are wicked helpful clues.
Bob Duchesne
> Hi all,
>
> I am a wildlife biologist with Maine Inland Fisheries & Wildlife and
> studied Blackburnian warblers for my Master's research in New Brunswick,
> Canada in the early 2000s. The song type Medea has here is their song "B"
> which is often heard in proximity of territorial rivals. The song "A" is
> more commonly heard but both are common in Maine woods as well. I've found
> in my six years in NB, and subsequent past 12 years in Maine, that many
> warbler species can sound alike and often take on the characteristics of
> their congener (of same taxonomic genus of warbler) neighbors. Redstarts
> are particularly adept at mimicking Black-and-whites, Parulas,
> Chestnut-sideds, Yellows, and Blackburnians to name a few. This is a good
> cautionary tale to double check your records as we get into confirmed
> breeding seasons for the Maine Breeding Bird Atlas.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Brad Zitske
>
> On Sat, May 29, 2021 at 2:17 PM wre...@gmail.com <wrenyen@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi folks,
>> A couple follow-ups on this.
>>
>> I've been hearing from others that this song is being frequently heard
>> in
>> Maine for Blackburnian. Given that it is not included in Sibley, anyone
>> have any thoughts on how specific it may be to our region?
>>
>> Also, apologies--I guess I messed up the alpha codes for Blackburnian
>> and
>> Black & White. I received a private message complaining about this and
>> the
>> way I was using the codes (don't use in the subject line and use better
>> alpha code protocol in sentences). I confess I did a quickie google
>> search
>> for those codes before sending my email and apparently I got incorrect
>> info. Can anyone share a good source for the alpha codes? Please share
>> to
>> the whole group.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 4:48:00 PM UTC-4 wre...@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>> Maine birds mailing list
>> maine-birds@googlegroups.com
>> http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
>> https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
>> ---
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
>> Groups
>> "Maine birds" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
>> an
>> email to maine-birds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
>> To view this discussion on the web visit
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/maine-birds/7961eca8-5d2d-4abf-977c-a9b5b3e97780n%40googlegroups.com
>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/maine-birds/7961eca8-5d2d-4abf-977c-a9b5b3e97780n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>> .
>>
>
> --
> Maine birds mailing list
> maine-birds@googlegroups.com
> http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
> https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Maine birds" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to maine-birds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/maine-birds/CABsTGLEAoa%2B0BnYXt5AE4zy1cRW%2BVUy2vQ2CNEeBKxdrX4N%2BjA%40mail.gmail.com.
>
--
Maine birds mailing list
maine-birds@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maine birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to maine-birds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/maine-birds/6b25c6fd1d16d42185620013009fa250.squirrel%40mail.otelco.net.
0 comments:
Post a Comment