In the annals of confusing birds, I just encountered a Willow Flycatcher
that was vocalizing a lot. Most of the time it was singing the standard
Willow fitz-bew. It was towards the burry end of the spectrum, but well
within the normal Willow range. It also occasionally made its one-note
call, which also sounded like what one would expect for a Willow.
But every once in a while it threw in a markedly different song that
sounded very much like an Alder Flycatcher. In fact, for a while I
thought there must be two flycatchers around. But, no, everything was
coming from the one bird. The Alder-like call wasn't entirely like a
standard Alder call -- basically, the ratio in length of the first and
second notes was a bit different -- but if the bird had only made this
call, I would definitely have pegged it as an Alder Flycatcher.
Given the more frequent Willow calls, though, and the fact that it
responded to Willow playback but not to Alder, I'm assuming it was in
fact a Willow Flycatcher. Just one with a penchant for throwing in a
confusing song periodically.
Has anyone else encountered this? I'm used to thinking that the way to
distinguish these two species in the field is by their songs. But if
they start singing each other's songs ...
Sydney Penner
Wilmore, KY
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