SeEtta, I hear this vocalization fairly regularly. It is a flight song. Normally the male will perform this rendition while performing a courtship/territorial flight, which is usually a low fluttering flight not far off the ground. Many other species have flight songs, including most grassland species. Many are the characteristic song of the species, like with Sprague's Pipit, and are coupled with a unique flight display. Others are observed with less frequency, like in Cassin's Sparrows, Empidonax flycatchers, Common Yellowthroats, Chats and Ovenbirds. The list is long. The office copy of the Western Meadowlark BNA account has walked off, so I'm not sure if they describe a flight song or not. It's not to surprising that you observed him singing his flight song while perched so early in the year. The hormones are pumping right now, and he is obviously in a singing mood. Once females are on territory he'll start flying around and singing with more vigor. Flight songs and whisper songs have some similarities and some differences. Many flight songs are loud and coupled with a species-specific behavior (display flights). They are often performed by species that have a "standard" song, like meadowlarks, larkspurs, and some sparrows/flycatchers/warblers. Passerine flight songs are often performed at crepuscular or nocturnal times. I see two types of whisper songs. The first is common in singers who are "warming up", such as in juncos and robins who utter complex renditions of songs under their breathe on warm winter days. The other group are those species which we do not usually think as having any songs at all, like Corvids. I first noticed this and began to study it when I worked with captive Western Scrub-Jays. I'd be cleaning cages, etc., and hear a beautiful warble coming from a room full of scrub-jays, Pinyon Jays, and nutcrackers. I soon tracked it down to a particular old male scrub-jay. He'd perform his whisper song every spring. Since then I've noticed it in several other corvids, including Pinyon Jay, Steller's Jay, and especially Black-billed Magpies. Common Ravens have many complex vocalizations, some of which are inaudible and I suspect could fall into the class of whisper singing. Around here, Black-billed Magpies perform whisper songs all the time, often while sitting on top of a Mule Deer. I'm serious, it's weird. They must be proud of the ticks they are gleaning. Cheers,
Christian Nunes [email protected] Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2011 02:06:16 -0600 Subject: [cobirds] W. Meadowlark giving 'whisper song'? From: [email protected] To: [email protected] While continuing to research Western Meadowlark vocalizations I New World Blackbirds (Jaramillo and Burke) and noticed something that I had missed before in the section on 'Song': "Occasionally performs a 'whisper song.'" Nothing else is said about it. Could this be the unusual vocalization I videotaped? And I have found a recording of a similar unusual vocalization like the one I videotaped Friday in Pueblo County. It was song #2 in the Bird Friends of San Diego County website I rechecked Birds of North America online but didn't find anything about a 'whisper song' or unusual vocalizations except by juveniles and the bird I videotaped is an adult. I would still like to know if others have heard this type of unusual vocalization in Western Meadowlarks in Colorado and if this is the 'whisper song." SeEtta Moss Canon City http://BirdsAndNature.blogspot.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
