I had a similar experience several years ago while helping return chairs from an RMBO picnic. We were in the parking lot of a Brighton church, when I heard a Sora from above. There was not a bit of wetland or water around. When I looked up, there was a European Starling on a utility line doing a perfect Sora imitation. We don't often give these birds the credit they deserve as vocal masters and accomplished mimics.
Chuck Hundertmark Lafayette, CO On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 10:50 AM, Peter Burke <[email protected]> wrote: > COBirders, > I thought I would relate a funny experience I had yesterday on the North > Trail at Teller Farms. When I reached the point where the trail turns away > from the river -- just before the dogleg that brings you to the lake -- I > heard a Sora call. I paused to confirm and heard the bird call twice more. > I'm very familiar with this species, and since they can be tough to get an > eye on, I felt confident in the ID. > > Still, it seems a bit early for Sora, and the habitat there is not too > Sora-like. So I waited a bit more. Long story short, the Sora turned out to > be a European Starling -- the quality of the Starling's imitation was > uncanny, very impressive. I also heard an excellent imitation of a > Killdeer's flight call, and a decent version of Eastern Screech Owl. I > don't think I've every heard such impressive mimicking from a Starling > before... > > The only interesting sighting of the day was a juv. Harlan's Hawk across > the road by Teller Lake #5. > > Good birding, > Peter Burke > Boulder, CO > > -- > > http://www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-burke/5/788/a62 > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- Chuck Hundertmark 2546 Lake Meadow Drive Lafayette, CO 80026 303-604-0531 Cell: 720-771-8659 [email protected] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
