Hi All, This recording is from Rye, NY last May--a coastal saltmarsh. Sounds to me like a heron, and Tricolored is my best guess (although it is rare in the county). I've never had the pleasure of actually hearing a Tricolored Heron call in flight, but based on a few recordings and text in Sibley that describes their vocalizations as "Soft, nasal moaning; usually lacking scratchy or rasping quality of most other herons and egrets," I think it's the best bet.
I've attached both my recording and a spectrographic comparison of it with the Tricolored Heron recording of the Stokes Guide (Eastern). Obviously in the latter recording the bird is closer and the call is louder so more detail is evident on the spectrogram, but I think it's a good match based on overall shape and rhythm of the vocalizations. If anyone agrees or disagrees, please let me know! And, on similar note, has anyone compiled a comparison of heron/egret/bittern flight calls? I have bits and pieces from here and there but I don't know of any one resource like Evans & O'Brien. Thanks, Benjamin Van Doren White Plains, NY -- 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/ --
<<attachment: NFCRecording_vs_Stokes.jpg>>
20110527_002045_heron.wav
Description: Wave audio
