I should have mentioned earlier that I am not 110% certain about the Ovenbird ID, since it is early for an Ovenbird, and sincerely appreciate any helpful comments. The bird I heard repeated a "Teacher, Teacher" phrase 12 times, with each repetition increasing in emphasis and volume as it built to a crescendo. The song also had the emphatic insistence I associate with an Ovenbird.
On the other hand, I thought I detected a slight difference in the clarity of the song. The bird seemed to enunciate "Teacher, Teacher" a little * too clearly*, a little *too perfectly*. I was not sure whether to attribute that distinction to a local accent or the fact that I usually hear ovenbirds when there are leaves muffling their songs a bit. Both Susan Fast and John Greenly wrote that they have heard Carolina Wrens sing “ovenbirdish” songs and John, a Ludlowvillite, knows of one such wren in the area where we heard the bird. I can imagine a clever wren turning teakettles into teachers. However, I’ve listened to countless Ovenbird and Carolina Wren recordings today and didn’t hear any wren recordings that came close to what I heard yesterday. Since locals usually know the quirks of their neighborhood birds best, I’ll assume it was a Carolina Wren, record it as an unknown passerine, and go back to hopefully track down the singer again. Thank you Susan and John! Have a good bird-filled weekend! Candace -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
