Hey, all. As Tony says:
The primary take-home message from this post: Recordings of SINGING birds provide the only truly definitive documentation. Not calling birds. Not whining birds. Singing birds, and singing birds singing full songs. That means that all of our phones' audio recorders will be getting a workout come May. That also means that non-singing birds are essentially unidentifiable, and should be recorded as "Eastern/Western Warbling Vireo" (or some such entry).
Agreed, but I might add a few points:
1. The Merlin Bird ID app, once it goes through mandatory training, will probably get fairly good, but far from infallible, at separating the two warbling[-]vireos. However... ;-)
2. It is good to understand a few quirks about the mind of Merlin. For starters, Merlin "thinks out loud" as it chugs along listening to three-second cuts of audio. A huge number of people don't know this. Merlin is actually rather like a human in this regard. Picture, oh what the heck, me and Tony listening to a "solitary vireo" in the Boulder foothills in May. The bird gives a bunch of "classic" Plumbeous song elements, but then the 14th sounds more like a Cassin's, and Tony says, "Interesting...that was closer to Cassin's than to Plumbeous." Tony doesn't mean that the bird suddenly turned into a Cassin's Vireo. He just means that it gave a single song element that was Cassin's-like. Merlin does that, too! Imagine that you're out and about, and you get Merlin output like this: Western, Western, Western, Western, Western, Eastern, Western, Western, Eastern, Western. That doesn't necessarily mean that both warbling[-]vireos are present. Rather, it means that the app is "thinking"—and that, Leukering-like, it's remarking on how the 6th and 9th songs sound Eastern-like. Which isn't the same thing as saying it is an Eastern.
2. It is good to understand a few quirks about the mind of Merlin. For starters, Merlin "thinks out loud" as it chugs along listening to three-second cuts of audio. A huge number of people don't know this. Merlin is actually rather like a human in this regard. Picture, oh what the heck, me and Tony listening to a "solitary vireo" in the Boulder foothills in May. The bird gives a bunch of "classic" Plumbeous song elements, but then the 14th sounds more like a Cassin's, and Tony says, "Interesting...that was closer to Cassin's than to Plumbeous." Tony doesn't mean that the bird suddenly turned into a Cassin's Vireo. He just means that it gave a single song element that was Cassin's-like. Merlin does that, too! Imagine that you're out and about, and you get Merlin output like this: Western, Western, Western, Western, Western, Eastern, Western, Western, Eastern, Western. That doesn't necessarily mean that both warbling[-]vireos are present. Rather, it means that the app is "thinking"—and that, Leukering-like, it's remarking on how the 6th and 9th songs sound Eastern-like. Which isn't the same thing as saying it is an Eastern.
3. Don't ever, ever, say in your eBird notes, without discussion, that an ID is supported by Merlin. If I were an eBird reviewer—oh, wait, I actually am—I would summarily reject any problematic ID "supported" by the one-word throwaway "Merlin." The only thing more egregious than that is the one-word throwaway "photos." In the same way that you would, needless to say, indicate "photos," and then upload said photos (I can't believe I even have to say that), it is totally fine to say "Merlin," if, and only if, you also include the audio recording. And that's the great thing about Merlin. It makes recordings of everything you listen to! (Including your grumblings about the propellerheads at Cornell, or your ex, or me and Tony, or the person who raided the fridge and took the last slice of Velveeta® you were so looking forward to). Just put the audio there and, sooner or later, Eric DeFonso or Nathan Pieplow or someone will validate the ID.
4. Make long recordings! Yes, there is a sort of "classic" Eastern and also a somewhat "classic" Western, but there are many, many 'tweeners. (Same as with Plumbeous and Cassin's vireos.) Fortunately, warbling[-]vireos during the breeding season sing their heads off, and they sing loudly. Record for at least a minute, upload the recording, and wait around for Eric and Nathan & Co. to do their thing.
5. If possible, upload photos or video. Tony takes the cautious view that photos alone are insufficient for making the call, and I think that's largely correct. (And it's distinctly different from the multitudes of self-proclaimed experts on social media suddenly and confidently ID'ing as Eastern the birds in seemingly all photos of extraseasonal warbling[-]vireos in the East.) That said, a good photo or video may well support the ID as one singing warbling[-]vireo or another.
And, hey, look at it on the bright side: None of us has to worry about any of this at all for at least four full months.
Ted Floyd
And, hey, look at it on the bright side: None of us has to worry about any of this at all for at least four full months.
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder Co.
P. s. Warbling[-]vireos because the orthography is a total cluster. AOS has them as Eastern and Western warbling-vireos, whereas eBird has them as Eastern and Western warbling vireos. The four-letter code overlords follow AOS, not eBird, in these matters, so the birds are officially EAWV and WEWV, respectively. Here's an idea for a New Year's resolution: Just don't use four-letter codes.
P. p. s. Remember MYWA, the butterbutt, the Myrtle Warbler. Okay, but what about Mangrove Yellow Warbler? ;-)
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