Well, Sebastian, I absolutely considered that selfsame strigine possibility. Here's my story. At a great distance, I was thinking I'd maybe come upon a little troupe of piñon jays. As I got closer, I thought the mystery bird was going to be a bluebird, although not a mountain bluebird; instead, I was thinking eastern bluebird, not out of the question in the Boulder County foothills in summer and known to breed there occasionally. Then, as I closed in on the songster, I, like you, was wondering if I had one of the "small mountain owls," and northern saw-whet in particular.
But it's not an owl, and it's not a bluebird (or any other kind of thrush), and it's not a jay (or any other corvid), and it's not, as we've already established, a finch or flycatcher. It's an adult of a common diurnal species in the foothills. Anybody else? :-) Ted Floyd Lafayette, Boulder County P.s. While I got y'all's attention: Kudos to Peter Gent on his discovery of Boulder County Cassin sparrows. And shame on the rest of you (I'm joking of course...) for going to see Peter's sparrows. But there is something to ponder here. The last time we had a Cassin sparrow discovery in Boulder County, it proved to be a five-YEAR phenomenon (2009-2013). Looking at my own records, at least one detection per summer in each of those five years, I can see that they were all clustered within the narrow range of dates of June 15 through July 5. So right now is the time to go out and find more of these spectacular, skylarking sparrows. With dedicated searching, I wouldn't be surprised if we find many more in the next couple of weeks. Or maybe it's a one-off. But we won't know if we don't go looking. On Saturday, June 20, 2020 at 6:43:27 PM UTC-6, sebastian patti wrote: > > To my ears this sounds like the persistent begging of a young bird, > possibly even an owl?? > > [email protected] <javascript:> > Sebastian T. Patti > 770 S. Grand Avenue > Unit 3088 > Los Angeles, CA 90017 > CELL: 773/304-7488 > > ------------------------------ > *From:* [email protected] <javascript:> <[email protected] > <javascript:>> on behalf of Ted Floyd <[email protected] <javascript:>> > *Sent:* Saturday, June 20, 2020 7:33 PM > *To:* Colorado Birds <[email protected] <javascript:>> > *Subject:* [cobirds] Re: Another bird sound quiz > > Thanks for the response, everybody. Despite enthusiasm--here on COBirds, > as well as over at Facebook and in my inbox--for Say phoebe, mountain > bluebird, and lesser goldfinch, it is not any of those species. The mystery > songster is in a bird family nobody has come close to yet. Anybody else > want to chime in now? :-) > > Ted Floyd > Lafayette, Boulder County > > P.s. Up at Rabbit Mountain, northern Boulder County, this sunny solstice > morn, June 20, Hannah Floyd and I saw a pair of *brown thrashers* > bringing food to an apparent nest near the parking area. Didn't investigate > the matter too closely, but I imagine that "apparent" nest is a real one. > > > On Thursday, June 18, 2020 at 7:22:39 PM UTC-6, Ted Floyd wrote: > > Hey, folks. Alrighty, that last one was fun, er, "fun." > > Here's a new one: > > https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/244160651 > <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmacaulaylibrary.org%2Fasset%2F244160651&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cf25b0cd61f174889240908d8157aad1e%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637282963910588340&sdata=FVGAmTwwNb7%2Fo%2FgKXx6%2BqE8bwTWkTut0qLV4a%2B9vhNg%3D&reserved=0> > > And another cut from the same bird: > > https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/244160711 > <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmacaulaylibrary.org%2Fasset%2F244160711&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cf25b0cd61f174889240908d8157aad1e%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637282963910588340&sdata=BU1nX5%2Fl%2BloKG8HZ2RgbzmK9RYW1%2FUz3dzStS2Cj2s0%3D&reserved=0> > > You can hear several species in those two cuts, but the one I'm talking > about is the slowly and rather steadily repeated whistle, falling in pitch > a bit and wavering, uttered every 2-3 seconds. The bird vocalized like this > for at least a minute at a time for much of the morning. Audio-recorded > (and seen, so I know what it is) near the intersection of Lefthand Canyon > Drive and Old Stage Road in Boulder County, yesterday, Wed., June 17. > > Any takers? > > Enjoy! > > 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] <javascript:>. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/241d6502-0a10-4258-bcc6-24f7b4761f1do%40googlegroups.com > > <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgroups.google.com%2Fd%2Fmsgid%2Fcobirds%2F241d6502-0a10-4258-bcc6-24f7b4761f1do%2540googlegroups.com%3Futm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dfooter&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cf25b0cd61f174889240908d8157aad1e%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637282963910588340&sdata=eIaaSkDl145PtvGJcMC9qtDq%2B4BppH3VjX7T4SbyKMc%3D&reserved=0> > . > -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/e1d76bb7-0170-40a0-bba0-19da7674f7f0o%40googlegroups.com.
