Re: [cobirds] Red Crossbills: Type 2 and 4 recorded together (Boulder)

Richard et al,

Indeed, your recordings are of a Type 2 and a Type 4 bird. (People who want to listen to these recordings might want to use this link instead: https://ebird.org/checklist/S150498144).

Type 2 Red Crossbills are the most common type, both nationwide and in Colorado. Type 4 is the third most common call type in Colorado, after Type 2 and the high-elevation Type 5. Type 4s are not in Colorado every year, but when they show up, they can be numerous. This year we are getting good numbers of Type 4s both in the mountains and down on the adjacent plains. I had a Type 4 bird fly over me at Twin Lakes in Gunbarrel about two weeks ago, and a Type 2 bird there more recently.

Nathan Pieplow

Boulder

On Fri, Sep 22, 2023 at 2:11 PM 'Richard Trinkner' via Colorado Birds <cobirds@googlegroups.com> wrote:

A week ago, while with my dog on his morning walk, I noticed two Red Crossbills perched atop a spruce tree in our front yard. They were calling and they sounded different from one another, so I pulled out my phone and used Merlin to record them.

I studied the sonograms today and think they were Type 2 Ponderosa ("pope-pope-pope") and Type 4 Douglas Fir ("whit-whit-whit").

This was the first time that I'd heard crossbills of different types calling together and it helped me appreciate how different their calls are. This flock of mostly Type 2 RECRs has been in and around the conifers within a block of the south side of the Boulder Community Gardens since August 28.  They were still there this morning.

You can hear the recording and see the sonograms at https://ebird.org/checklist/S150498144/media.

By the way, I recently read the fantastic book, "An Immense World" by Ed Yong.  In it, I learned that birds hear "faster" than humans.  While we may need a sonongram to see the details of a few milliseconds of bird calls, the birds apparently can hear the nuances quite easily.

Richard Trinkner

Boulder

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