Quick, Three Beers

[Burnetted@aol.com]

Carolina Birders:

I need a bird song tutorial from you bird sound experts.

On Saturday, 4/28/01, I heard a song that sounded remarkably like "quick, 
three beers" at two widely separated sites in Guilford Co., NC. Much to my 
frustration, I never saw either bird. Guilford County is in the north central 
piedmont of North Carolina, and not a place where I would expect to hear that 
song, particularly in two different spots.

I checked my Peterson bird song tape at home to confirm what I thought I 
heard, and am reasonably sure that what I heard at the two different Guilford 
Co. sites was very similar to what's on the tape. Unfortunately, I have at 
least two big factors working against me. My knowledge of bird songs is 
limited mostly to the common species in our area, and I have only heard the 
obvious candidate species in western states on a birding trips several years 
ago. Yes, I know the old sayings: birds fly, and nearly anything is possible 
during migration. However, I'm not willing to make identifications of these 
two birds based solely upon what I heard.

Many of you are much better at bird songs than I. What am I missing? What 
other resident and/or migrant species might repeatedly produce a similar 
song? Is there anything else with similar cadence and phrasing? Was I hearing 
just a piece of some other song?

Any insight you can provide will be appreciated.

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
burnetted@aol.com