Eric,
I live in Maryland, and nearly every spring when I think I'm hearing my first Eastern Pewee of the year, I realize that it is one of the local Starlings instead. The Pewee sound is fairly common among our Maryland Starlings. In the Birds of North America online article on European Starlings, the Starling's mimicry skills are noted and includes the following specific statement -- "In North America, commonly heard mimicries include the Eastern Wood-Pewee...". The interesting thing in my suburban neighborhood just outside Washington, DC, is that Eastern Pewee is not very common at all, but I hear Starlings doing Pewee imitations every Spring before the Pewees arrive. Jim Nelson Bethesda, Maryland -----Original Message----- From: Eric DeFonso <[email protected]> To: cobirds <[email protected]> Sent: Sat, Jun 2, 2018 7:35 am Subject: [cobirds] Starling mimicry of Eastern Wood-Pewee Hi folks, I meant to mention this earlier, but about a week ago during a brief trip out to Tamarack Ranch SWA, I got a visual confirmation of a European Starling doing an amazing mimicry of Eastern Wood-Pewee. For about half an hour I was convinced I was hearing a real Eastern singing from somewhere in the woods just out of sight, although I also noticed that I was only hearing a portion of the full song. I was hearing a convincing rendition of the initial 'pee-urrrrreeee' phrase every so often, but never hearing the subsequent downslurred 'pee-urrrrrrr'. Eventually I 'got close' to the pewee and my heart sank as I realized there were a disturbing number of starlings around. And finally, in the bins, I saw the culprit actually vocalize the phrase. The tonal quality of the mimicry was outstanding, and I mean right on the button. I wouldn't have thought it possible, except in recent weeks I've also heard starlings do outstanding mimics of Common Nighthawks, White-crowned Sparrows, Black-billed Magpies, and so on. I offer this just as a cautionary note that any Eastern Wood-Pewee song heard at Tamarack Ranch should be investigated thoroughly. Sure, it's true that the starling had to learn the song from someone who could actually be present, and Eastern Wood-Pewee is certainly a probably find there. But just beware that starlings know this and will deceive you if you don't catch them in the act. ------- Eric DeFonso Coal Creek Canyon, Jefferson County, CO (at exactly 8,000' ASL) -- 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/CAFjVA_bf%2BeHbT2_eMusgFUY1dJ2Oi0RGF%3DnMvzQLzHkxgsLpJg%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit 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/163c30077bd-c8f-19a8e%40webjas-vab162.srv.aolmail.net. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
