[obol] Re: Western Wood-Starling
- From: d_villa <d_villa@xxxxxxxx>
- To: joel.geier@xxxxxxxx <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx>, obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2015 05:34:01 GMT
I had an Osprey flying around over my house one day last fall making quite a
racket. I raced outside and got good looks but couldn't figure out what it was
yelling about. It flew off.
A couple hours later my hubby got home. When I greeted him at the door I heard
the Osprey calling again. I took him around the house to show him. Guess what I
found? My neighbor's roof with a half dozen Starlings doing a pretty exact
rendition of the Osprey.
I was amazed and impressed.
dawn v
------ Original message------
From: Joel Geier
Date: Mon, Feb 2, 2015 9:13 PM
To: Oregon Birders OnLine;
Subject:[obol] Re: Western Wood-Starling
Wood-Soras are out and about too.
Usually identifiable by their habit of giving their diagnostic whinny calls
from high in the cottonwoods wher,e when you look, you'll only see Starlings.
But you need to remember to tilt your head from side to side, or else you might
get the idea that they're carrying on from that wetland lower down in front of
you.
Another reason why I always maintain a bit of skepticism about heard-only
reports, no matter how skilled the birder. Starlings are amazing and
under-appreciated birds on this side of the pond. I wouldn't draw any
boundaries on the range of birds that they can mimic well enough to fool even
the best of us.
The big question is, how do they learn some of these obscure songs and phrases?
Are starlings moving around the continent more than we realize?
Happy birding,
Joel
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
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