Higher Altitude Songbird?

[eddie]

Could someone please identify the songbird that can typically be heard at the higher altitudes in the Whites and Adirondacks? It is a slower flute-like song that is my favorite bird song. It always seems to be like a welcoming melody to the higher peaks. If you can find a weblink for the song, that would be great and I would certainly know it when I hear it.

This may help: I was at the Adirondack Museum Wild Center in Tupper Lake NY two years ago and I remember there was an exhibit with this bird and song featured in it.

This would help me during my off hiking days - I can listen to the birdsong while smelling the residual mud on my hiking boots. (Yes, I need help)

 

[Early Bird]

It's a thrush. Probably Swainson's or Hermit. Bicknell's if you've been lucky. They are my favorite too.
Here's a link to Swainson's, http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Swainsons_Thrush/sounds. You can find the others here too.

 

[rhihn]

Possibly a type of thrush?

http://www.wildmusic.org/animals/thrush
http://www.learnbirdsongs.com/birdsong.php?id=32
http://www.10x50.com/sounds.htm

 

[eddie]

Check out the beginning and the end of the video on the Quick Tour Inside button at the Wild Center website. It's that bird!

http://wildcenter.org/indoor.htm

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

That my friend is...

Killoweet. The White Throated Sparrow. I love that sound!

KDT

 

[TrishandAlex]

Thank you so much for this thread! Alex and I have been hearing that lovely sound a lot lately. She asked me what kind of bird that was and I told her I'd have to find out...and now I know!

 

[Peakbagr]

Yep, White Throated Sparrow. Welcoming you to the summit or alpine zones.

 

[eddie]

here is a link and the song

Great, that's it. Nice and thank you!

They apparently have a large natural range but I have never heard one outside of the higher altitudes.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-throated_Sparrow/id

 

[Waumbek]

Great, that's it. Nice and thank you!

They apparently have a large natural range but I have never heard one outside of the higher altitudes.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-throated_Sparrow/id

They're in my back yard, 1200'.

 

[Jason Berard]

If you want a good resource for high elevation songbird songs, check this out:
http://www.vtecostudies.org/MBW/MBWAssets/MountainBirdwatchTraining_23min.mp3

you can download the mp3's and burn them to a disc, and listen to them whenever you like.

 

[Jazzbo]

Jason beat me to it!

Shucks! I was just fixing to respond with Mountain Bird Watch, but jason beat me to it. However I'll simply add link to Mountan Bird Watch site which features additional links to other audio files. This is a great resource for info montane ecology.

http://www.vtecostudies.org/MBW/multimedia.html

The audio files are really well done. I particularly like how it mainly focuses on higher altitude birds so you aren't inundated with million bird songs. Limited focus makes it esier to process the subtle differences more easily.

You can also store audio files on your ipod to carry on the trail to help ID birds while songs are still fresh. I just purchased a portable player which I hope to use sometime to play bird songs on trail and possible attract montane birds to me. I think that's what Mountain Bird Watchers do for the bird counts on the Bicknell's Thrush. I hope I can particiate in this count next season.

 

[Early Bird]

A good mnemonic device for the White-throated sparrow is "Old, Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody, " or "Old, Sweet, Canada, Canada, Canada," depending on where you are from. Love that one too.

 

[Tom Rankin]

They're in my back yard, 1200'.

In the Winter, we have them at 230'.

 

[Waumbek]

I have heard of a portable device that 'listens" to a bird song and then identifies it for you. Does anyone know about it? I am very inept at remembering calls and the near simultaneous identifcation might help me internalize them.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

They're in my back yard, 1200'.

In the Winter, we have them at 230'.

I can top (or bottom) both of those. I have heard them in the more wild sections of my neighborhood at 160' during the winter. I also recall Darren had a photo of one in his "Yard Birds" photo thread -- taken with his backyard photo setup.

Lately they do appear to be wintering more in the northeast, although I believe they always have done so in the lower elevations.

For some reason I have been hearing fewer during the last few years in the Catskills. They were once more common. One greeted me on my first Catskill peak way back in 1975. The thrushes may be more creative in their songs, but the White Throated Sparrow has remained my favorite song bird. I will need to get myself back up to the Adirondacks again for my WTSP fix.

 

[Daniel Eagan]

My wife and I have seen and heard white-throated sparrows in Union Square and Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan. Usually during the winter. They are wonderful birds.

I like all the linked sites, but don't the sparrows also have a sort of melancholy descending call? The sites seem to have only one call. Or am I thinking of another bird?

 

[Mark Schaefer]

I like all the linked sites, but don't the sparrows also have a sort of melancholy descending call? The sites seem to have only one call. Or am I thinking of another bird?

There are several variations in their songs and calls. both ascending and descending. The "Typical Voice" on this webpage has one of the descending variations.

 

[rup]

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??

 

[WinterWarlock]

Thank you so much for this thread - I had one of these practically following me down the trail on Street/Nye last weekend. Now I know.

 

[Early Bird]

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??

Black-throated blue warbler?http://http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-throated_Blue_Warbler/sounds