Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Birds Songs saving me from the Doldrums of Summer. Here is Quiz #2

   
I know it's time to take the feeder down, but I am still getting loads of visitors, especially Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, five males yesterday afternoon, along with several females and juveniles.  I have been taking lots of pics, but the one I like best, I took a couple of years ago. It shows the underside of the wings.


Bird songs have saved me from the doldrums of summer. Birds may have disappeared from view, hidden by dense foliage, but they are still audible and still present a challenge to identification. So here is Bird Song Quiz # 2:

The first two birds are almost identical in appearance and are often told apart only by their songs. (false, see correction in comment section) Both are found in brushy moist habitat near streams or in bogs or marshes. They are usually solitary.

One:



Two:                                                 





Three: This one is a mystery to me - haven't been able to figure it out. The song is difficult to hear, extremely high pitched. I heard the bird singing from a thicket near a cornfield and next to a river trail.



Four: This one is a plain bird with a pretty song, usually solitary in a large tree near water.




Five: A small bird, reddish brown overall, with long whitish eyebrow, recorded singing from a tall oak tree in my backyard.





I am going to post the answers to the quiz in the comment section in two days, except of course song #3. I hope one of you can identify that one for me!

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8 comments:

  1. ~In your post, Garden of Eden, you mentioned the idea of which kinds of art people choose to display in their homes. The type of art I'd hang on my walls are pictures like you took in your post, Late Summer Day: "A young Great Blue Heron hiding in the reeds" and the second "Reflections in a stream" photo. Well done- full of oxygen.

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  2. Excellent informative and descriptive post for me Hilke. I did not know this brid and I might know locate it just by its song... The picture is gorgeous!!!

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  3. One: Willow Flycatcher.

    Two: - I thought this was an Alder Flycatcher when I wrote the post, but it actually is an Eastern Phoebe. Sorry if I have misled anyone!

    Three is still somewhat of a mystery but Lance Tanino of Keene suggested it might be the whistle call of a Brown-headed Cowbird. And I have seen BHC in the area although not that particular day.

    Four: Warbling Vireo

    Five: Carolina Wren

    Doing this has been a great way to learn bird songs.

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  4. Hilke

    I really like your recordings! I wonder if I am not going to purchase the same equipment you have.

    Are you sure #1 is a willow fc? sounds very soft to me. My first instinct was Eastern Phoebe too, but I might be wrong

    Laurent

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  5. Laurent, you are getting me confused! When I am listening to my recording of the WF song it sounds the same as the recording on eSibley on my iPod. But they are so close! I had posted the question on the internet Birdforum.net and got one single response saying it was a WC. But to my ear they are all very close.

    Anyway, I think the Olympus LS 10 is a terrific recorder. A newer model is available the LS 11, but it's more expensive too. If you type it into Google you get reviews that compares both. To clean it up I use the noise removal tool on Audacity beta.

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  6. Its an Eastern Phoebe in one and a Willow Flycatcher in two. The mystery one has me stumped too. I'll have to listen to it a few more times.

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  7. Agree with Larry.

    Somehow the #3 sounds a little bit like an eastern meadowlark, but some notes are missing.

    Laurent

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  8. Larry and Laurent: Embarrased to admit, I got one and two turned around! Anyway, I still think #3 is the whistle of a brown-headed cowbird. I did spectrograms of a couple of BHC on eSibley. None of the 3 are the same, but the overall appearance is similar.
    See: http://tinyurl.com/36qwb95

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