Hey all- If you can get a recording (any kind of recording) of the irrupting Red Crossbills (or those that might not be irrupting, like those in the north country) it would be helpful for understanding what is going on with this species complex! See the request for recordings from Cornell Researcher Matt Young below.
Also, I want to point out an error in my other message about the crossbills. I was unaware that there is an Appalachian population of these birds, and the ones seen in TN and NC are locals, not irrupting birds! I learn something new every day. Jesse Ellis, Madison, WI ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nick Anich <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 11:15 AM Subject: [wisb] Red crossbill recordings wanted To: wisbirdn <[email protected]> I got a note from Matt Young <[email protected]> at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology asking about Red Crossbill audio recordings, and he wanted me to forward this to the list. Please reply directly to him. I've sent him a couple recordings in the past and he was able to type them for me. (You can check eBird to see which types they were). Nick Anich Ashland, WI Recordings for this species are sorely needed from the upper Midwest and Great Lakes Region. There’s a significant influx of birds currently taking place in Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin (Kansas too and few in Iowa as well). If you don't know, the Red Crossbill complex is made up of 10 different North American call types. On-going research may prove that some of these call types are even separate species. Getting audio-recordings is essential to solving the crossbill riddle. When you get a crossbill recording you (or I) can run an audiospectrographic analysis to get a signature of the birds voice, which then can be used to identify the individual (or flock) to call type. These recordings will help us understand their ecology and distribution better. Birds can be recorded by video camrecorders with audio, expensive recording equipment, and even most cell phones now. I can usually make a spectrogram of even pretty bad cell phone recordings. I recently was able to easily identify a Type 1 in Tennessee that was recorded via cell phone. Pretty amazing. If you have been finding Red Crossbills currently or recently, please let me know. I’d love to run the analysis on anyone’s recordings! For a summary of information about Red Crossbill forms, see http://research.amnh.org/vz/ornithology/crossbills/diagnosis.html Also look here for differences in some of the crossbill Types: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/introduction-to%20crossbill-vocalizations http://madriverbio.com/wildlife/redcrossbill/ Information for your area: As for Types that are most common in the Upper Great Lakes, they are Types 2, 3, and 10. Types 3 and 10 (these are both smallish-billed with Type 3 being smallest billed in NA and Type 10 being the next smallest-billed) are most common in the Pacific Northwest, with Type 3 most associated with Western Hemlock and Type 10 most associated with Sitka spruce. However, Type 10 is also the most frequently occurring Type in the Northeast from Adirondacks of NY to northern Maine and likely southern Maritimes (often using red and white spruce which isn’t that different than Sitka spruce). Type 3 is highly irruptive in the east and often uses spruce and Eastern hemlock. Dietary overlap can be great in the east, especially when you have very hungry irruptive birds, and it’s not uncommon to find all types in spruce or even occasionally white pine. With that said, Robert Payne studied crossbills (1987) in the UP Michigan and found a small billed bird to be relatively resident in the Marquette County Highlands. It would be great to get more information on these birds since it’s unknown at this time whether Payne’s work involved Type 3 or Type 10 (I hope to get up there this year to get some recordings). As for the large-billed Type 2, it is the most widespread type in NA, and can be fairly common at times in the east (often in red pine and perhaps even Jack Pine or pitch pine), but is most common in areas of Ponderosa pine in the west. Of the recent recordings I’ve received so far, I’ve identified Type 3 and 10 from Wisconsin, and Type 2 in Kansas. Thanks in advance for any help, Matthew A. Young #################### You received this email because you are subscribed to the Wisconsin Birding Network (Wisbirdn). To UNSUBSCRIBE or SUBSCRIBE, use the Wisbirdn web interface at: http://www.freelists.org/list/wisbirdn To set DIGEST or VACATION modes, use the Wisbirdn web interface at: http://www.freelists.org/list/wisbirdn Visit Wisbirdn ARCHIVES at: http://www.freelists.org/archives/wisbirdn -- Jesse Ellis Post-doctoral Researcher Dept. of Zoology University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, Dane Co, WI ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
