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Re: Pre Dawn Flycatcher Songs

Subject: Re: Pre Dawn Flycatcher Songs
From: Kevin Colver <>
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 17:37:52 -0700
Actually, I believe most of the flycatchers on my Stokes western birds 
have predawn song samples.  And yes, once the sun comes up the song 
changes for the rest of the day.  This seems to be true of Kingbirds as 
well.  (And other bird species)  My Cassin's Kingbird recordings were 
from about 3-4 AM.  The Thickbilled Kingbird recording was also predawn 
and no one seemed to know what it was for awhile because the predawn 
song hadn't been recorded previously.

Kevin Colver



On Thursday, March 16, 2006, at 09:35  AM, <> wrote:

> I enjoyed Jim Morgan's Cassin's Kingbird song immensely. It brings to 
> mind
> one of the lesser known aspects of bird recording. The flycatchers, in
> particular, use pre-dawn songs that are almost never emulated during
> daylight hours. Because of the lack of ambient light, ID is often 
> difficult,
> especially when dealing with neotropical species whose repertoire is 
> poorly
> known. Playback does not work because the birds are loathe to move in 
> such a
> vulnerable time (and should not be provoked to do so) so the only way 
> to be
> sure is often to light it up briefly to match a name to the song.
>
> Pre-dawn songs seldom show up on commercial recordings and are
> under-recorded in collections. One has to be virtually sleeping in the 
> field
> to become aware of them and one can only do so much in that critical 
> half
> hour. Yet Jim's recording points out that it could actually be one of 
> the
> most obvious vocalizations made by a species in the course of a day. 
> If one
> is censusing by recording, one needs the data in order to analyze 
> pre-dawn
> recordings accurately. For example, if one is looking for the presence 
> of
> Pheasant Cuckoo in suitable habitat, pre-dawn will be your only good 
> chance.
> Serendipity is a poor tool for inventory purposes. My point is that we 
> could
> use as many pre-dawn recordings in collections as possible, especially 
> from
> lesser known locations.
>
> Thanks Jim.
>
> Scott Connop
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Microphones are not ears,
> Loudspeakers are not birds,
> A listening room is not nature."
> Klas Strandberg
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---
> [This E-mail scanned for viruses by CSolutions.net]
>
>

---
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