[TN-Bird] Re: Montgomery Bell SP, Apr 18, 2012

  • From: Scott Somershoe <Scott.Somershoe@xxxxxx>
  • To: TN-Birds <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:59:40 +0000

I always enjoy the interesting discussion on birds singing the wrong song 
(blue-winged and golden-winged warbler recently, among others), variations in a 
usual song, and similarities between species.  This comes up annually here and 
is always a learning experience.  We all struggle with bird songs no matter how 
experienced. Keeps birding interesting.

Couple other examples to consider if interested:

At Radnor Lake on Wed morning with the NTOS morning walk, I was with a small 
group including Chloe Walker and we heard one typical Northern Parula and a 
second singing bird that was more Cerulean-like.  Parulas do sing a second song 
that is more similar to a Cerulean, but Chloe hadn't heard it before (I think) 
and I haven't heard it in many years in spite of spending significant time in 
the field with Parulas over the years.  We never saw the bird, but I thought it 
was a Parula simply by the tone of the voice, which was less "muffled" or 
however I could describe the difference in tone between a Parula and Cerulean.  
The meat of the song wasn't good for an actual Cerulean, but it was one of 
those birds that had us uncertain.  We chocked it up as "not sure."  Of course 
when we went to look for the bird, it stopped singing.

I had a technician years before I moved to TN that could never tell Hooded and 
Swainson's Warbler apart.  This is a fairly common pair of species that cause 
trouble for folks.  The hooded's in the deep south sing the rising second song 
"wanna rent a video" at least 80% of the time (if not 95% of the time), and 
rarely sing the typical "cherri cherri cherri-io" song that we all learned as 
the typical Hooded song.  Hooded's at our site sang the song of rising notes, 
while all the Swainson's (and we had a lot) sang the very loud, clear, 3 note 
descending call ending with a sharp "whip-poor-will" (also my favorite bird 
song).  We worked on the ID all spring and the tech never could tell the 
difference, but that person was very good with Chestnut-sided and Magnolia 
Warblers, which to this day confuse me a lot.  I have to see those birds 
singing, esp. on migration and away from breeding grounds.  Maybe it is 
personal perception, but Magnolia and Chestnut-sided sound more distinct and 
less varied on breeding grounds in East TN than the migrants we get through 
middle TN and other places in the south. Maybe migrants are singing 
half-hearted, or maybe there's some regional dialects from northern breeders we 
hear from migrants, or maybe I just have them so confused in my head.....

At Bridgestone-Firestone Centennial Wilderness (Van Buren Co.), TWRA has been 
doing some bird monitoring on the Big Bottom Unit on the south end adjacent to 
Fall Creek Falls for a couple years.  Last year after the first morning of 
surveys, Melinda Welton and I discussed how few Prairie Warblers there were 
(they are abundant on the study site), but several Field Sparrows (also very 
abundant) had a buzzy upticked buzz at the end of the song.  The next morning 
we paid attention to the songs and made effort to SEE those funny singing Field 
Sparrows, but SAW many Prairie Warbler's singing a perfect Field Sparrow song 
with a buzzy rise at the end.  We noted all the wrong singing Prairie's on our 
data sheets for the rest of the week.  Turns out about 60% of the Prairie 
Warblers were singing the "wrong" song.  I've seen this at Catoosa WMA before, 
but don't know how widespread this switch is.

The point of this ramble is we all have birds that confuse us with their 
"typical" songs and we get headaches when they mix things up.  We all have much 
to learn about bird songs (and refresh on every year) and we learn a little 
more every year as we get more experience.  Maybe, just maybe, someday I'll be 
correct on most Magnolia and Chestnut-sided Warblers I hear in spring away from 
breeding grounds.  I can hope anyway.  Chasing down every bird for a look is a 
lot of work;)

Birding is always an adventure.

Cheers,
Scott Somershoe



From: Bill Pulliam <littlezz@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [TN-Bird] Re: Montgomery Bell SP, Apr 18, 2012
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:26:10 -0500

Yellow-rumped Warblers can sound like a lot of other warblers,
including Nashville, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, and Canada.  Suspected
early arrivals for all of these need to be considered carefully if
they are heard-only!
As for the Swainson's:  With practice, Swainson's has a distinctive
quality to its tone that will help eliminate Hooded and Louisiana
Waterthrush if heard well.  To my ear the waterthrush is a little
clearer, more whistled; the Swainson's is the most flute-like and
mysterious (and hence my favorite of these three songs).  But these
are SUBTLE and SMALL differences.  What I rely on for positively ID-
ing a Swainson's is a combination of two features in addition to the
quality.  First, the introductory notes are very similar to each
other; if anything the first is slightly lower in pitch than those
that follow it.  The Waterthrush generally drifts down in pitch
during the introduction (exceptions to all rules).  Second is the
closing phrase.  It has to be clear and right on -- "switch-a-
WEEoh."  The pitch and stress accents have to all be in the right
places.  With a combination of all three features (tonal quality,
pattern of introduction, crisp and properly accented closing
sequence) I am comfortable calling a heard-only Swainson's even where
they are fairly rare.  I have not always been able to track these
birds down, but when I have succeeded they have always been the real
thing.

Swainson's is one of only two regularly-occurring warblers in this
region that I do not have on the yard list (Connecticut being the
other).  Even in migration in non-breeding areas they don't show up
where there is not abundant bottomland undergrowth.  Privet will do
in a pinch for a migrant, but there has to be some kind of heavy cover.

Bill Pulliam
Hohenwald TN

State Ornithologist
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
P.O. Box 40747
Nashville, TN 37204
615-781-6653 (office)
615-781-6654 (fax)

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