Been hearing a bird song while gardening, lately, that's driving me NUTS.
It's very rapidly trilly-up and down with a song that arcs twice, like two rainbows hitched together.
Been at Cornell this a.m. and last night, fishing around bird songs semi-blindly. (btw I play them QUIETLY 'cause it's not good to freak other birds out, you know, the ones that actually live here and are trying to establish a territory right about now, hence the singing)
Don't know lots about bird song, but can usually play a few species' calls and know if it's that group or not.
Then, some time this morning, I hit play here.
warbling vireo
photo: John Harrison at http://flickr.com/photos/15512543@N04/
photo: John Harrison at http://flickr.com/photos/15512543@N04/
Oooh! That's certainly in the right neighborhood. And the warbling vireo is all over the U.S.
However, I only remember two rounds of the up and down, tho' that's possibly variable?
Anyhow, the Cornell folks say something I've never read about another species (bolded section):
"A drab bird of riparian woodlands, the Warbling Vireo is more easily heard than seen. It has no distinctive field marks, but its rapid warbling song with a accented, high-pitched last note is relatively easy to recognize. "
1. erg re: no distinctive field marks. field biologist's nightmare.
2. reminds me of herp stuff talking about "highly variable color and pattern" (oh, yay), but
3. that last part (high-pitched last note) is exciting and I will DEFINITELY be listening for a high-pitched last note today. PROMISING!
(4. I love this web site and the amazing work those folks do, so I will politely ignore "a accented"--ouch!)
Crossing fingers.
Do you have any bird sounds in your aural world that you want to figure out? Or that you have figured out? If so, how did you do it?
xobb
