Last night, while sitting on the roof and talking to Curtis, amongst the hundreds of seeps, SWTH, and occasional GCTH flying over, I heard (and recorded) a low, dry buzzy note. In the recording, you can hear me say "Whoa, buzz note. Holy crap, that sounded like Dickcissel! Curtis, I think that might have been a Dickcissel." It was a noticably dry note, lacking any of the piercing, metallic/high=pitched quality of INBU, etc. I figured it either had to be BLGR or DICK, or something else not expected in my yard.
So, this morning, I anxiously analyzed the recording to see what I could do with it. The bird was pretty high up, so that it was barely picked up on the sonogram, but it is there, and most critically, the frequency range of what's visible is in the 2,800-5,500 HZ range only. The duration is around 0.08 sec. Basically, boys, what I suspected at the time is confirmed. None of the other buzzes are this low-pitched, and I judged by ear (immediately) that the sound quality was way too dull/dry for INBU. So, Skyler, enjoy losing your lead back again!
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hmm, I suspect you need to send this around for peer-review.
ReplyDeleteyeah, like to the guy who didn't realize that NAWA is a double banded upseep?
ReplyDeleteyou didn't get laid much in high school did ya?
ReplyDeleteWhat a score for the yard man! This is the fall to nail it down.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if & when somebody would get this this year. Congrats! Are you entering it in the Rarity Comp?
ReplyDeletesweet score fiddler on the roof! Pure N-V on this side of Lake Michigan.
ReplyDeleteWhen are we going to tidy up the Rarity Comp -- there's a lot of B.S. in that listing that distracts from the real gems like my March 31st Barn Swallow.
Lets have a top ten and cull the rest of the herd. We should each submit a Top Ten and score birds appropriately. # 1 from each list gets a score of 10 all the way down to # 10 getting a score of 1. That should work sufficiently.
Highest ranks should be reserved for the most significant records starting at the level of the State, then region, then county, then a bonaparte's gull flying over oak forest or a woodcock in an urban oasis.
We could also divide up into the seasons. Best winter, spring, summer, fall.
I'm in favor of this move (the cleanup of the rarity list)
ReplyDeleteYeah here are some votes for clean up: I deleted my SAVS, but I think stuff like NSHR, SORA, unidentified egret/heron, MERL, BCNH, LOWA, AMWO, BOGU, are questionable.
ReplyDeleteI killed the LOWA. I don't know Ben, SNEG/LBHE is a tough bird up here... There were only a handful of reports for Chicagoland region this summer and those were in quality habitat in the Lake Calumet region SE of Chicago. As far as I know that's the only record for the western suburbs of Illinois (DuPage, Kane, McHenry, DeKalb, Kendall Counties) this year...
ReplyDeleteSure but you don't know which it was...sooo
ReplyDeleteRecords committees still vet Aechmophorus grebes, Arctic/Pacific Loon, plegadis ibis, Sulid sp, Selasphorus sp, BT/GT Grackle, Townsend's/Hermit types, frigatebird sps...
ReplyDeleteSo I don't see how identification down to only a couple of (both) unusual options makes it any less worthy of note? Are you telling me that if you had a Plegadis ibis go over your place it wouldn't be on the side-bar!?