[pct-l] identifying birds by song

[jeffmoorehead1 at cox.net (Jeff Moorehead)]

whoa! give that person a cigar if not the car...

IDing birds by song has been a passion for me but very difficult to do. I am 
not sure why. I just could never fully register songs so that I was able to 
ID the bird if I heard it again. I'm even a fairly accomplished musician, 
too. To me, this is a very amazing and coveted skill. But wait....

The digital age to the recue! I acquired an impressive computer-age device 
called the "Song Sleuth" made and sold by Wildlife Acoustics. It actually 
records a bird's song in the field (range = ~50 ft.; the range can be 
greatly expnded by hooking the line-in to a parabolic reflector/mic combo). 
Then the digital wav file is analyzed by an efficient algorithm and the 
device gives you the three best possibilities. Then you can play the 
suggested bird's sound files for further comparison and ID. Pretty 
amazing... because it works! I have become a much more accomplished bird 
song ID guy.
 My hats off to all those analog people who can ID bird songs by sound and a 
further tip of the hat to those who get it by verbal description. I'm in 
awe!

>
>
> #1:  Olive-sided Flycatcher
> #2: Golden-crowned Sparrow
>
>
> ...please let me know if I've won the car...:-)
>
>
> ---  Robert Ellinwood <rellinwood@worldnet.att.net>
> wrote:
>
>> I  have had real difficulty in identifying, by song,
>> 2 birds that I  have
>> heard along the northern PCT, as well as the
>> northern  CDT.  I wonder if any
>> of you might be able to solve these mystery  bird
>> calls for me.  They are
>> hard to describe via  email.
>>
>>     1)    3 equal length  notes, with the middle one being
>> up a whole
>> step  (musically).
>>     2)    3 equal length notes,  descending stepwise.  Very
>> similar to
>> the first three  notes of "Three Blind Mice."
>>
>> Someone directed me to a website  with hundreds of
>> bird calls on it, but
>> groping in the dark, so  to speak, it would take me a
>> month to go through
>> them.   Any ideas on which birds these might be?  I'd
>> be grateful for  any
>> help.
>>
>> Thanks,  Dr Bob
>>
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>
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