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Re: interesting warbler's song



C-birders,
This is an interesting point that Gary brings up and one that is not
discussed a great deal. There does seem to be a large amount of variation in
warbler songs. Many of us are familiar with the "typical" warbler songs,
such as the Black-and-White's "weeser-weeser" song and those of many of the
other species, but many of these birds have a larger repertoire than we are
aware of and I can think of many examples. I have tracked down a typical
Worm-eating Warbler song to discover a male Golden-winged Warbler, heard a
Swainson's Warbler giving a complicated warbling subsong (?) -totally unlike
the standard Swainson's song , and heard a Pine Warbler do an almost perfect
Black-throated Blue!! The list goes on......
While this may aggravate many of us, it keeps the challenge alive of
identifying birds by their vocalisations and the more we are out in the
field birding, the more we realise the variation within songs of even the
most common birds.
Simon

Simon Thompson
Ventures Birding and Nature Tours
PO Box 1095
Skyland, NC 28776
Phone: 828.253.4247
Travel@birdventures.com
www.birdventures.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "gary" <walela@sccoast.net>
To: "carolinabirds" <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 9:12 PM
Subject: interesting warbler's song


> hi y'all,
>
> this is probably not of interest to the majority of the list, but for
those
> who do point count surveys on a regular basis, i'm keenly interested in
your
> comments. while doing field work today at Hobcaw Barony, i heard what
> sounded (at first) like a very unpracticed Red-eyed Vireo. the bird was
very
> close but well-hidden in the vegetation (gotta love a coastal forest, esp.
> in a wet year.) to cut to the chase, the bird finally showed itself,
> foraging while it sang ~2m from me. it turned out to be a Hooded Warbler.
> another Hooded was calling (recognizably) approx. 50m distant.
>
> this is the 4th distinct voice/song variation i've heard from individual
> HOWAs in Hobcaw. FWIW, there are a bunch of Hoodeds in the Barony this
year.
> interesting birds...
>
> ;-)
>
> gary phillips
> conway, sc
> sunset zone 31
>
> "...where is the person, I ask, who, on observing this glittering fragment
> of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and turn his mind with
> reverence..." (J.J. Audubon)
>
>