Thanks Tom. When l heard the recording l thought "This is the first
time l've ever heard a HOFI do an imitation." The ready response of others
to the contrary made me think l've been a lousy listener the last half
century. I regularly hear Purple Finches do imitations, usually at lower
volume than their primary call and at least double the speed of the
original song, a rapid pastiche of species. Given the species' prediliction
for high perches this can easily be missed.
I will say that most of us give short shrift at best to bird song.
I recently read "Listening to a Continent Sing" by Don Krudsma and rapidly
came to realize that there's way more to bird vocalizations than species
ID, which is where we usually leave it. I am eager to believe the HOFIs at
OSU have a different culture than those on Mt Tabor. Lars
