The Spostern Towhee raises an interesting question. At the end of winter/beginning of spring, male song birds go through a period when they are regaining their song. During this period, the song is often somewhat off. In the case of two closely related species, one might wonder if during the song recovery period the bird might render elements of song from an earlier evolutionary stage before a common ancestor began differentiating into two species.
Chuck Hundertmark > On Mar 28, 2016, at 7:51 PM, Ted Floyd <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi, all. Here's some bird audio I've gotten in the past couple weeks: > > 1. This spotted towhee at the Medano-Zapata Ranch, Alamosa County, Mar. 20, > sang a song that wouldn't sound out-of-the-ordinary for an eastern towhee in > Kentucky or Ohio. Then it switched over to a perfectly typical spotted > towhee. If it's not obvious, the moral of this story is: Don't trust towhees. > > Eastern-like song: http://www.xeno-canto.org/307976 > <http://www.xeno-canto.org/307976> > Spotted-like song (same bird): http://www.xeno-canto.org/307981 > <http://www.xeno-canto.org/307981> > > 2. Starlings sputter, stutter, squeal, and grunt. They also produce an > astonishing array of complex vocalizations, many of them quite beautiful; and > they are brilliant mimics. Check out the endlessly varied song of this > European starling at Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County, Mar. 12: > > http://www.xeno-canto.org/306784 <http://www.xeno-canto.org/306784> > > 3. I can't control myself. If I hear an African collared-dove, I will record > it. Here is one near Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County, Mar. 25: > > http://www.xeno-canto.org/309312 <http://www.xeno-canto.org/309312> > > Ted Floyd > Lafayette, Boulder County > > -- > 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] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/60603e95-b363-450e-8321-48f26c002ce8%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/60603e95-b363-450e-8321-48f26c002ce8%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout > <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. -- 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]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/F3D9F227-BA4F-47DF-9E73-AA464CBF8227%40gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
