Re: [nfc-l] Black-headed Grosbeak NFCs and ID help

[Bill Evans]

Interesting calls Tayler. If your 3-call cut is unedited then it sounds like 
multiple birds may be involved. The calls don't sound like Western Meadowlark 
or Bobolink, and they don't fit the flight call descriptions of Black-headed 
Grosbeak or Western Tanager in Sibley. Bullock's Oriole might be a possibility 
but your calls are shorter than typical for that species, and in my experience 
orioles rarely give nocturnal flight calls. 

It is tough with the weak recording but the species that rings closest for me 
is House Finch. Not sure how that possibility might fit at your recording site 
(?) in Washington State, but it is now thought that all finches are sometimes 
involved with night movements in the east, especially in coastal areas.

I look forward to following your detective work on the identity of these calls 
and to hearing what others think.

Bill Evans
Danby, NY
  - Original Message - 
  From: Tayler Brooks 
  To: nfc-l@cornell.edu 
  Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 2:41 AM
  Subject: [nfc-l] Black-headed Grosbeak NFCs and ID help


  Hello all,


  I'd like to hear from those out there that have experience with the nocturnal 
flight calls of BHGR.  How different are they from those of Rose-breasted 
Grosbeak?  


  I set up my equipment for a night of recording in Brier, WA yesterday. At 
around the 1:30am mark, some interesting flight calls showed up on the 
spectrogram. Three FCs were recorded that I initially thought could be those of 
a Bobolink, as they were somewhat brief (79, 65, and 42 ms long), beginning at 
2.8 and ending at 3.8 kHz (generally), were all rising in pitch, and showed a 
complete parallel upper band on two of the calls (the first only had half of 
one).  BHGR was suggested as an ID for the mystery sound, can they give fairly 
short, ascending flight calls differing from the usually monotonal (or slightly 
descending), longer FCs of RBGR?


  Here's a spectrogram of my recording, the call is about 65 ms (compared here 
to some spects of BOBO from the Evans and O'Brien program): 
http://tinyurl.com/np2r7n


  The sound file itself can be heard here (intervals shortened): 
http://tinyurl.com/kto4zc


  The recording is very faint, is it beyond being identifiable?


  I've had some pretty decent flights over my yard this month with 297 flight 
calls recorded on the 18th and 329 last night, basic species breakdowns and 
spectrograms will be posted to the list soon!


  Thanks for the help and good birding,


  -Tayler Brooks from Washington
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[nfc-l] Black-headed Grosbeak NFCs and ID help

[Tayler Brooks]

Hello all,
I'd like to hear from those out there that have experience with the
nocturnal flight calls of BHGR.  How different are they from those of
Rose-breasted Grosbeak?

I set up my equipment for a night of recording in Brier, WA yesterday. At
around the 1:30am mark, some interesting flight calls showed up on the
spectrogram. Three FCs were recorded that I initially thought could be those
of a Bobolink, as they were somewhat brief (79, 65, and 42 ms long),
beginning at 2.8 and ending at 3.8 kHz (generally), were all rising in
pitch, and showed a complete parallel upper band on two of the calls (the
first only had half of one).  BHGR was suggested as an ID for the mystery
sound, can they give fairly short, ascending flight calls differing from the
usually monotonal (or slightly descending), longer FCs of RBGR?

Here's a spectrogram of my recording, the call is about 65 ms (compared here
to some spects of BOBO from the Evans and O'Brien program):
http://tinyurl.com/np2r7n

The sound file itself can be heard here (intervals shortened):
http://tinyurl.com/kto4zc

The recording is very faint, is it beyond being identifiable?

I've had some pretty decent flights over my yard this month with 297 flight
calls recorded on the 18th and 329 last night, basic species breakdowns and
spectrograms will be posted to the list soon!

Thanks for the help and good birding,

-Tayler Brooks from Washington

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