Bill, Caleb, Michael and list, Thanks for your responses. It's good to have some support and know that I'm not imagining things! From the European point of view, I can confirm that nothing sounds quite like an Upland here. The Collins Guide suggests two similar sounds, female Common Cuckoo and Little Grebe.
Female cuckoos have a bubbling call similar to much longer Upland Sandpiper calls in recordings I've heard from the breeding grounds, not the short three-note type Upland apparently give during migration. I've never heard a female cuckoo giving a three-note call (ten or more notes would be more normal).The last cuckoo I saw was in early August at which time they usually seem to be silent. I've never heard one in late summer or autumn, except for the occasional late begging juvenile which sounds very different. Has anybody else? And what about North American cuckoos, do they call in autumn as well as spring? Almost all Common Cuckoos would have been well south of the Sahara when I recorded the call. As for Little Grebe, the overall frequency pattern is similar, with two higher notes followed by a lower, quieter one, but the individual notes are not sharply rising in pitch as in Upland. The call in question is not the flight call of Little Grebe, and there is no water body near here that they could have been calling from. It is the only grebe species I have heard during night flights, but at such times they give a totally different, Whimbrel-like call preceded by a few tiny, high-pitched notes. So based on the very strong likeness to Upland Sandpiper and the lack of any other species that sound truly similar, I think I can rest assured that that's what it was. Incidentally, it's not the first time a rarity has flown over my mics at night. Last October on the island of Berlenga I recorded something at night that had me really stumped. I made a mental note to listen to it again later and remembered to do so two nights later. The penny dropped immediately when I heard it again, because the morning after making the recording I had found a Blyth's Pipit from Mongolia/eastern Siberia on the island (the furthest west ever recorded), and that was exactly how it sounded! If anyone has ideas of detection software for Mac I'd still be very interested to know. I haven't been recording every night as I'd like to because it would take me forever to listen to everything. Conditions look good for tonight and I got to the end of the last recording so I'll try again... all the best, Magnus Robb p.s. Bill and Caleb, as Michael noted the call I recorded does actually have a third, much quieter and lower note. On 19 Sep 2011, at 3:22:47, Michael O'Brien wrote: > Magnus et al, > > This call sounds perfect for Upland Sandpiper to me. As Bill Evans pointed > out, there's nothing else in North America that sounds like this. There is > some variation in the number of notes given by Upland, and this bird gave a > common pattern of two similar rising notes followed by a lower, softer note. > Sometimes there are three or more rising notes, and sometimes the terminal > note is very faint or lacking. But this call is well within the norm for the > species. I don't know all the European possibilities, but I would be very > surprised if another species could match this call so well. > > best, > Michael > > Michael O'Brien > Victor Emanuel Nature Tours > www.ventbird.com > > Robb- > > I had exactly Bill's response. The recording, if heard by myself in Michigan, > would immediately be scored as UPSA (even if not seen), but there is a > lingering doubt in my mind about whether anything European (I have never been > there, and have no experience with the vast majority of species there) is > ever capable of producing such sounds. I am sure that the 2 note call is not > a problem for UPSA based on personal experience, though I wouldn't be able to > substantiate this with anything but memory, and await Bill's findings. > > Excellent recording! The idea of capturing a rarity on a nocturnal monitoring > microphone is one of my most exciting personal forays. > > Caleb Putnam > Sparta, MI, USA > > On Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 8:14 PM, Bill Evans <wrev...@clarityconnect.com> > wrote: > Magnus & list, > > I think if I heard this over NA I would log it as an Upland, but the jigsaw > puzzle in these matters involves which piece it is as well as which piece it > isn't. We really don't have anything else Uppie calls can be confused in the > US. I don't have a sense for what else it might be in the European flyway. > > The call is a bit unusual in that, as I recall from memory, Uppie more often > gives a three noted call in night migration. I'd have to go back and see if I > have any instances of two-noted Uppie night flight calls. I'll look into this > further when I get a chance. > > I made a spectrogram of the call but it doesn't provide enough detail to help > ascertain the ID other than that the frequency, time between notes, and basic > time-frequency contour appear to generally match. > > Bill Evans > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Magnus Robb" <magnus.r...@xs4all.nl> > To: <nfc-l@cornell.edu> > Sent: Sunday, September 18, 2011 5:06 AM > Subject: [nfc-l] Upland Sandpiper in Portugal? > > > > While recording the other night at Sintra, Portugal, I heard a single call > that seems to me to be spot on for an Upland Sandpiper. I should explain that > this is a species that has only been recorded twice in Portugal. We have been > having a major influx of Nearctic waders in Europe, so now would be a good > time for one to show up. > > Anyway, the question is whether this really sounds as good for Upland as I > think it does. I've only seen and heard one before, though I've listened to > recordings many times. So I'd be very grateful for some feedback about this > call. If you heard it over North America, would it go down as an Upland, and > does it still stand up to scrutiny on closer analysis? I've compared it with > examples on www.xeno-canto.org and find that it is particularly close to the > last two examples from Argentina. But nothing beats field experience, which I > hardly have for this species. I'd love to know your opinions and if possible > hear some night migration examples from North America. > > I'm sending the recording to the list via yousendit, so that only those who > are interested need to download it. Let me know if there are any problems. If > this doesn't work then I'll have to think of something else. I don't have my > own website. > > best regards, > > Magnus -- NFC-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_WELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC_RULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NFC-L_SubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nfc-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NFC-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NFCL.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
