On Sunday morning I heard what I believe was a BIcknell's Thrush call and was wondering how reliable it was to call a Bicknell's from nfc only.
Myself and Jeff Lewis were on the 6am ferry across the Currituck Sound in coastal NC. A small ferry from Currituck, NC to Knott's Island/Mackay Island. There was only a light wind and the engine noise was not bad. Not ideal listening conditions, but the birds we heard, we heard clearly. There were 5 nfc's on the ride that were from low flying birds. There were 2 Swainson's, one Bicknell's, one Gray-cheeked, and one non thrush that I couldn't ID. When we heard the Bicknell's we both immediately called Bicknell's. It was a much longer call than Swainson's or Veery. It was much higher pitched than Gray-cheeked and had almost a whistle quality rather than the burry/raspy quality that I hear in Gray-cheeked. It was loudest/sharpest near the beginning and then trailed off gradually. The higher frequency and the clearness of the call really stood out to both of us. It only called once and of course we didn't see the bird for visual ID since it was dark. The Gray-cheeked call was after the Bicknell's and made for a good comparison giving a lower pitched raspy call. Does Gray-cheeked ever make a more high pitched cleaner call that could be mistaken for Bicknell's? I am doing an NC Big Year and am not sure how to handle this bird. Thanks, Jeff Lemons Charlotte, NC -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
