A couple of highlights from today's SFO trip to Greensprings Cemetery & Arnot Forest:
BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO at Greensprings Cemetery south of Newfield, calling from the stand of trees alongside the hill which is topped by Carl's Bench. Part of my group stayed late to try to see it, and a couple of sharp-eyed students, Ben & Tony, succeeded. I am envious. We heard it numerous times at intervals of several minutes as it moved within this copse. PRAIRIE WARBLER repeatedly singing an odd song which sounded to me like a partial Song Sparrow song, including a couple of clear introductory notes and a couple of buzzes which were on the same pitch as each other. We listened to our devices to see if any such song was on our various apps. We discovered three things: First, all our examples consisted of a series of buzzes, with each buzz in the series at a higher pitch than the previous, as is typical for Prairie Warbler but unlike our bird's song. Second, the Prairie Warbler at hand heard and recognized these standard songs and moved around us as a result, although it had not been our intent to bother him. Third, the Prairie Warbler at hand did not change his tune but kept singing his unusual song. Maybe someone with recording equipment would like to add this example to the Macaulay Library (which I have not checked to verify how unusual this song is). The bird was at the top of Arnot Forest lands at the intersection of Irish Hill Road and the track (blocked by a couple of logs) which goes out into the field which used to have Grasshopper Sparrows. There are signs of an old homestead there. The bird looked like a normal male Prairie Warbler except it seemed to lack the rufous back stripes. I doubt this is enough to indicate a hybrid, and I don't know what hybridization would cause such a song, but other birders may have ideas. --Dave Nutter -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
