Higher Altitude Songbird?

[vegematic]

Very interesting.

But I am left perplexed. What I always thought a Thrush may not be.

There is a bird that I call the 'NH bird'. I hear it in the N NE mts in summer, and also in NJ in the spring and fall. The call is mesmerizing, but simple: A tone, followed by what sounds like notes an octave lower:

Ta - te -te - te - teee

Anyone??

I also thought of a Chickadee, either Black-capped or Boreal.
-vegematic

 

[rup]

Thanks for the info.

It's a plain tone w/o any chirps/warbles/trills. The white throated sparrow is right on (well, the recording has an intermediate frequency between the hi and low frequencies that I have heard over the years), and the black capped chikadee a close second. With the ID, I'll feel a bit closer to the woods. Very cool.

 

[Stan]

I also thought of a Chickadee, either Black-capped or Boreal.
-vegematic

Nawww ... chicadees go, "Chicka-dee-dee-dee", a warning song as sweet as it sounds. Perhaps "ta-da-dee-dee-deet" was a chickadee at a mosquito infested gathering.

 

[Umsaskis]

Calling birds

For anyone trying to figure out what bird you are listening to, there is a simple way to call them in during the spring and early summer. Most warblers will respond to it, chickadees and nuthatches do as well, but thrushes tend not to as well. There are two ways to call. The first is to make a loud "pshhh, pshhh, pshhh" or "psss psss psss." It is called "pishing," in birder-speak. The second way is to hold the palm of your hand up to your mouth and kiss it loudly, repeatedly. It comes out sounding like a bird's alarm call. Calling birds in to identify them works best when you have one or two birds and you know where they are sitting but you just can't see them; that way when you see it you know it was the one you were hearing. It is also fun when you hear a bunch of birds singing, because you can bring in a whole host of different species at once. They will stop singing and either be silent or make alarm calls when they fly in, but they will often come close enough to see without binoculars. If you don't have a bird book with you or don't know your birds well, make quick note of obvious features like back, belly and throat color, presence of wing bars, and so forth, so you can remember them when you get back home to your bird book. Once they have flown in, they don't stick around long, so make your observations quickly. You could try it this time of year - sometimes it works with some species (WTSP is a good responder to the call), but your best bet is to try it out next May and early June.

 

[cushetunk]

"Pishing" birds in can sometimes be useful, but I'd just add that it is best used in moderation. The noise you're making is alarming the birds into investigating a potential threat -- meaning they stop all the normal, wholesome day-to-day bird activities they do like foraging and breeding and staying warm. Especially during winter and during migration, birds don't have many extra calories, and so they're on a pretty delicate energy balance. Some birders will go around pishing at every darn bird that happens to fly behind a leaf. Be patient. Don't be "that birder."

 

[Puck]

Cashetunk- well said.
for more on pishing http://www.amazon.com/Art-Pishing-Attract-Birds-Mimicking/dp/0811732959. This is a book by Pete Dunne that comes with a CD. As pointed out there are times that you do and do not pish, and is covered in the book.

Pishing mimics the distress call of a titmouse on the one extreme and a bird screaming in death throws while in the clutches of a coopers hawk at the other extreme. It triggers a mob behavior in birds present. Another technique is using an owl call either a screetch owl or saw whet owl depending on where you live.

For the record I do not pish. I have been on one Christmas Bird Count (CBCs)in New Haven CT when the group leader started a combination of pishing and owl calls. with in seconds he had a bush full of chickadees scolding him. This practice is discouraged in the mountain CBC for the reasons Cashetunk gives. The birds can be on the edge of survival in winter or migration and will need to get its calories, or hide, or rest or whatever inorder to make it through the next flight or next subfreezing night.