Thank you Robin for that reminder. You're absolutely right, the time-honored convention for citing 4-letter bird codes in listserv messages is to give the full name of the bird first before subsequent uses of the 4-letter alpha code. Not everyone knows or remembers all the codes, and doing it this way helps everyone learn!
Eric
-------
Eric DeFonso
Boulder County, CO
Boulder County, CO
On Fri, Jun 23, 2023 at 4:01 AM Robin Biddle <robinbiddle48@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Eric ( and Ted)😊😀 Somewhere in the depts of my laptop, I have Colorado bird codes. Sometimes you guys forget that you have an international readership.In the past i've seen postings from India, and I know other Brits follow CobirdsGood birdingBest wishesRobin (England)On Thu, 22 Jun 2023 at 18:53, Eric DeFonso <bay.wren@gmail.com> wrote:If I may toot my own horn for a second, I'd like to piggyback onto Ted's post and mention that in the Colorado Birds Fall 2021 issue (v55, No 4), I had an article titled "The Sincerest Form of Flattery" where I discussed the phenomenon of mimicry in bird songs in Colorado. Like Ted, after giving due credit to the main mimicry culprits like Northern Mockingbird and Yellow-breasted Chat, I mentioned the Lesser Goldfinch as a "lesser known" mimic that deserves more recognition than it has received for its intriguing imitations. Referenced therein is another Colorado Birds article from our own Hugh Kingery in 2004 where he tallied 25 different species being imitated by LEGOs based just on his observations in the state! Sharon Goldwasser's 1987 Master's thesis documented 39 different species being imitated by Lesser Goldfinches in Arizona, including Tufted Flycatcher.In fact, one needs to be cautious in the vicinity of LEGOs for they will also imitate other finches, both calls and songs. Just the other day during my field season I was initially snookered by a LEGO inserting occasional Evening Grosbeak sounds into its calls and songs.Good birding to all,Eric-------Eric DeFonso
Boulder County, CO--On Wed, Jun 21, 2023 at 9:35 PM Ted Floyd <tedfloyd73@gmail.com> wrote:LEGO is the giveaway.--
Yeah, so I was whiling away the 2 o'clock hour this hazy, partly cloudy Wed. afternoon, Solstice Day, June 21, 2023, just south of the noisy intersection of 30th & Valmont when I heard quite a commotion in a tall shade tree along 30th. Hairy woodpecker, then house sparrow, then northern flicker, then American goldfinch, then house wren, then western wood-pewee, then lazuli bunting, then plumbeous vireo, and, through it all, a lesser goldfinch.
I fumbled around my backpack for my cell phone, found it, pressed the red button, and got audio:
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/587098881
Those are the utterances of a single lesser goldfinch! Mockingbirds and starlings get all the glory for their powers of mimicry (and, to be sure, those two are indeed amazing mimics), but the lesser goldfinch is an astounding mimic, too. Seems like that goldfinch had spent some time in the foothills. That's why I'm calling the Passerina bunting flight call a lazuli bunting; but it's at least as good a match for the flight call of a blue grosbeak. And I'm applying the same probabilistic reasoning to the plumbeous vireo; but after my recent experiences with a territorial Cassin vireo up there, who knows!
In any event, it's amazing what we're learning by simply pressing the red button on our phones. Or, as Nathan Pieplow put it recently:"What does that mean, exactly? Heck if I know. But I do think it's another great reason why EVERY birder's first instinct upon hearing [birds]—anywhere, anytime—should be to pull out the phone and hit record."Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder Co.
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