For those of you not at the convention, you missed a very informative and entertaining presentation by Ted, entitled
"Lies, Danmed Lies and Spectograms: Interpreting and Overinterpreting Computer Printouts of Birdsong."
A shame that wasn't recorded!
Linda Hodges
Colorado Springs
On Mon, Jun 9, 2025 at 8:07 AM Ted Floyd <tedfloyd73@gmail.com> wrote:
Hey, all.--Shortly after Hannah Floyd and I got in yesterday evening, Sun., June 8, from the most excellent Colorado Field Ornithologists (CFO) annual meeting in Grand Junction, I took a quick walk down to Greenlee Wildlife Preserve, Lafayette, Boulder Co., and what did I hear in the tall shade trees near the intersection of Salina & South Fork but a great crested flycatcher. It's ironic: On the CFO field trip to the Colorado National Monument that Hannah and I and Cary Atwood led earlier in the day yesterday, we all got to enjoy ash-throated flycatchers, in the same genus as the great crested flycatcher, aplenty, and we talked about how, while it's nice to look at Myiarchus flycatchers, nothing beats listening to them.
Then, this Mon. morning, June 9, whilst settling down at the desk, what should I hear in the big ole shade tree out front but a great crested flycatcher. This time, I had the phone nearby, so I pointed it out the open window and got a perfectly diagnostic spectrogram of the flycatcher's spectrographically unique call:
Note the tripartite spectrographic signature, unmistakably recalling the insignia of the Klingon Empire:
1–a steadily rising whistle through the 2K band. 2–a sharp spike from 3K to 5K. 3–a whistle falling fairly fast through the 2K band. These three elements create the wheeEEP! mnemonic known to any birder who's ever wandered the Eastern broadleaf forest in summer.
Another irony. Or good timing. Or something. Remember that guy's presentation at the Sat., June 7, afternoon science session at the CFO annual meeting? ;-)tl; dr– Just press the red button on your phone, make a quick-and-dirty sound spectrogram, and it's off to the races.
As to seeing the bird, good luck with that. I caught the briefest glimpse of a largish bird in the treetops, a plausible Myiarchus. Based on my encounters yesterday evening and this morning, I would say that it calls for a few minutes at a time, then falls silent. Pretty typical of great crested flycatchers in my experience. I guess you could walk up and down South Fork Dr., especially around the intersection with Salina St. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if the bird makes its way down to the preserve proper; it's nicer down there anyhow. ;-)
If you stay in the neighborhood, be mindful of, and respectful toward, the gendarmes and, much more so, the punctilious HOA inspectors, who patrol the mean streets of the subdivision looking to write up citations for the little girls drawing blue unicorns and pink fairies with water-soluble sidewalk chalk.
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder Co.
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