Monday 22 June 2020

[cobirds] Son of Song Quiz: We have a winner! (Nick Moore)

Hey, all.

Nick Moore got it. Yellow-breasted chat. The bird that can sing or say anything--anywhere, anytime. It was, as far as I could ascertain, a typical adult of the species. Nick also said: "Usually they start their more normal song but Ted may well be keeping the full recording from us." It is true that the bird eventually started to give a normal ("normal" being relative with the the crackup, clownish chat) song, but only after a long while of this consistent, stereotyped, down-slurred, wavering whistle.

Long ago, before the era of smartphones and small pocket recorders, I heard a chat in Gregory Canyon, Boulder County, giving only a slowly uttered, quite-low, monotone whistle. Was nearly certain I had a northern pygmy-owl. But no.

About a decade later, THIS chat was at Rabbit Mountain, Boulder County:

https://www.xeno-canto.org/184929

I think you'll see (and hear) why I thought I had a rare curve-billed thrasher. I wasn't the only one who thought that. :-)


Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder County

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