At 08:16 AM 3/22/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>Hi Jim;
>What an interesting comparison of Bewick's wren and the Towhee Jim. I can=
>pick out the Towhee by its introductory double note which seems to say"
>Towheeeee". Our Spotted Towhee on the West Coast are not a problem but I=
>do get confused with a Song Sparrow especially at a distance. The Song
>Sparrows have been singing since Christmas but the Bewick's Wren only
>started two or three weeks ago. Close up the Bewick's only has one
>introductory note whereas the Song Sparrow has two or three and ends with=
>a more complex sound.
>Good Birding
>John Neville
Thanks, Jim. I am glad to read that others have a time with these birds
song IDs. It might be worth a controlled playback (OH, NO!!??) series of
tests. I wonder if I played a Washington Bewick's to our Song sparrows . .=
. I know, I'd get blacklisted.
I certainly had a difficult time during my first recordings in the Seattle=
area in the late 1990's with this one. I had been ignoring Bewick's wren
songs because I thought them to be Song Sparrows. Then I recorded a Song
Sparrow which was so dark in color I thought I had something really new to=
me, but got it because of behavior and finally a closer look. It seemed
within my usual range of Song sparrow variation at the time. Then I SAW a=
Bewick's singing about three meters up in a snag and got an excellent
recording. Especially with my loss of frequencies above 4 kHz hearing I
still cannot hear most of the critical differences. Great singers, though!
I send my best regards,
Marty Michener
MIST Software Assoc. Inc.
P. O. Box 269,
Hollis, NH 03049
Graminoids - a new book for naturalists who have never been able to
identify sedges and grasses.
http://www.enjoybirds.com/HomePublishing/PubHome.htm#gram
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