FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Re: Orchard Oriole? Nope!

[Icepeep@xxxxxxx]

Hi Ned and Listers,
       Along the same line as your post, in Boston we use to get a big influx 
of Northern Mockingbirds right around Tax Day. There would be a few local 
birds and then, they were everywhere. In the late 70's, when their numbers 
were lower in that region, this influx was more obvious than when I left in 
94. With their arrival came the calls of Common Tern and Clapper Rail. I 
heard many Mockers doing the calls of birds that were never going to reach 
New England or that barely made it there as breeders. Boat-tailed Grackle and 
Gull-billed Tern and Chuck-will's-widow.
       I also heard the call of a rare and extremely local breeder, 
Worm-eating Warble, while on a run through the Blue Hills just outside of 
Boston. I was about a mile from the location of the only confirmed nesting 
pair in that part of the state. I went back with a tape and called the bird 
in. It responded beautifully to the tape coming in quickly and calling 
constantly, giving me a quick look for confirmation. It was a Chipping 
Sparrow.
       I have heard Blue-winged Warblers doing perfect Golden-winged calls 
and saw and heard the much hated Chipping Sparrow at Mount Auburn Cemetery in 
Watertown, Mass., doing it's perfect Clay-colored call.
       Sometimes, audio alone just doesn't cut it.
                                                        Sorry,
                                                        Bob
Bob Abrams
McLean, Virginia


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