First, a big thanks to everyone who responded to me. About half the posts
were in the category of "I can't tell these two apart either" and the rest
offered some insights. A number of people asked me to forward any tips that
I recieved, so I figured others on the list would also benefit so here are
the results:
"Marc Ribaudo wrote:
I have found that the chip of a pine warbler is more slurred and
musical than a chipping sparrow, no matter how fast. The chipping
sparrow's chip is drier, less musical.
Steve Collins wrote:
This might just be me, but if you listen closely - the pine warbler sounds
more like individual notes of the same tone, while the chipping sparrow
sounds less like musical notes. That's what I keep in mind anyway. Also,
it's not a good indicator, but you can sometimes differentiate by habitat -
chipping sparrows are not often found in really deep woods ..
Todd Day wrote:
No easy way to describe call differences, but there is one thing I can say
that may or may not help. Pine Warblers always sound sweet to me. Their
trill just has a sweetness to it that Chipping Sparrow never has. Chipping
is dryer, but never as dry as Worm-eating Warbler. That's the best I can
do.
Julie Kacmarcik wrote:
..... I've listened over and over to
my tapes-I guess the part that has helped me the most is the tip that the
Chipping sparrow is a very mechanical trill vs. the Pine warbler.
Bob Abrams wrote:
I think that the Chipping Sparrow is drier. It has a bit more of a tsk tsk
tsk quality. The Pine Warbler has more liquid in it's throat when calling.
Pines never rasp. If I had to point out one quality that sets them apart, I
would say the Chipping Sparrow's call is more irritating.
Kurt Gaskill wrote (about the Pine):
a musical sequence of notes containing 2 or more closely spaced
frequencies, slight tremelo effect can be discerned
Thanks again to everyone who responded,
Bart Hutchinson
Alexandria, VA
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