# Common DFW bird with varying 2-note song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 19, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343 "2015-05-19T01:32:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/21 "2015-05-27T03:46:54Z")
Not a chickadee, I don’t think. Does the video clip have any useful audio? ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/22 "2015-05-27T04:25:24Z")
It didn’t for me, but my laptop speakers suck. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/23 "2015-05-27T04:31:46Z")
Just so we can completely eliminate my OH WELL (chickadee) song, go to the last sound file at bottom of page, titled “Typical Song.” [http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-capped\_Chickadee/sounds](http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-capped_Chickadee/sounds) I know its song varies by region. Even the OH WELLs on Martha’s Vineyard have their own version! [sorry–just noticed dr’ drake’s is clear enough] ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/24 "2015-05-27T17:24:57Z")
tapu, that’s the black-capped chickadee, while here in Texas we have Carolina chickadees. I don’t know how similar their songs are. Listening to the audio on purplehorseshoe’s video (I used earbuds), I’m thinking it sounded like a mockingbird. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/25 "2015-05-27T23:19:35Z")
Hopefully better audio here, with two full “blocks” of the song, which seems to consist of about 5 pairs of notes, repeated in a particular sequence. [https://vimeo.com/129049384](https://vimeo.com/129049384) ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/26 "2015-05-28T14:49:52Z")
That audio wasn’t much better, and I’m a casual bird watcher but certainly no expert. Given that, I thought the sounds were something like I would expect from a mockingbird, plus the view off your balcony looks like the kind of area that mockingbirds inhabit. Mockingbirds are usually easy to spot visually when they’re singing. Have you seen the bird that’s singing? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/27 "2015-05-28T14:54:50Z")
I haven’t, or I’d have included any visual clues as well. I don’t think it’s a mockingbird only because the pairs of notes follow a particular pattern or sequence (about 5 pairs) that’s repeated over and over, and that’s just not the M.O. of any mocker I’ve ever heard in my life, and I’ve lived in Texas for 25 years. I’ve heard it in two different widely-separated areas of the metroplex, and the details of the 5-pair song are slightly different (individual variation) but the general melody is the same each time I hear it, even if it’s obviously a different individual bird making the song. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/28 "2015-05-28T15:28:26Z")
A [robin](http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/sounds), perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/29 "2015-05-28T21:00:45Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > I haven’t, or I’d have included any visual clues as well. I don’t think it’s a mockingbird only because the pairs of notes follow a particular pattern or sequence (about 5 pairs) that’s repeated over and over, and that’s just not the M.O. of any mocker I’ve ever heard in my life, and I’ve lived in Texas for 25 years. > > I’ve heard it in two different widely-separated areas of the metroplex, and the details of the 5-pair song are slightly different (individual variation) but the general melody is the same each time I hear it, even if it’s obviously a different individual bird making the song. I could not pick up the song on your links, but as I noted previously a brown thrasher is also a mimic and has similar sounds as a mockingbird. It is more musical. I gave a link to the thrasher’s notes above. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/30 "2015-05-29T03:15:52Z")
On the drive home today I was listening to some recent Scientific American 60-Second Science podcasts, and at the end of it were some bird calls (or songs) that sound like it may be what’s in your video links. Listen to this, starting at the 2 minutes 5 seconds mark: > **[May 9 Is Big Day for the Birds](https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/may-9-is-big-day-for-the-birds/)** > > Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Chris Wood explains the May 9 Global Big Day event, in which birders worldwide are invited to spot birds and upload their findings to the eBird database. Steve Mirsky reports > >   Is that it? I think that’s a robin (like romansperson suggested). ---
**Author:** ![John\_hightechirrigation.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@John\_hightechirrigation.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_hightechirrigation.com)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/31 "2018-06-29T12:21:23Z")
The oh well bird. I have been trying to find out what this bird is for over 12 years. I live in south MO I use to come out for few months but now here full time. I have recorded this bird sent the recoding to many universities played it for many in MO and no one knows what it is. Good luck let me know love to find out what this is ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/32 "2018-06-29T16:40:50Z")
Re-reading the OP after three years, I’m thinking it could be the Eastern Phoebe. Its song is low-high, pause, high-low, pause, low-high, pause, high-low. These are common around DFW. Listen to song #1 and song #2 on [this page](https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/eastern-phoebe). ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/33 "2018-06-29T18:50:20Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > It’s definitely not a mocker, since the whole song (about five pairs of notes, each pair always falling high-low) is repeated along the whole pattern. Immediately. Frequently. Incessantly. I’ve never once heard a mocker say the same thing twice in a row, let alone repeated like that. Agreed. The bird’s name says it all–they imitate dozens of different songs, having a seemingly endless repertoire of stolen bird songs. I once had one set up shop outside my bedroom window, the bird started his/her ever-changing song every night at just about midnight. This was good for one or two evenings, but quite annoying after a month nightly serenades. A friend reminded me that “there’s a book about how to take care of that” ETA: I didn’t realize this was a three year old thread. Anyway, mockingbirds are still annoying and not the bird of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![John\_hightechirrigation.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@John\_hightechirrigation.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_hightechirrigation.com)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/34 "2018-06-29T20:13:46Z")
It is so strange that most people in this area have heard this sound but never have seen the bird. I hear it at my house on table rock lake every afternoon and in the morning. Usally it just call out twice OH WELL OH WELL and that is it. But I recorded it and now I call back to him and can get him to answer me two or three times, then he is gone. I hear him in town and all over the lake when I am out fishing so strange and he is very loud. As loud as a crow, and no one hear has seem it strange ---
**Author:** ![John\_hightechirrigation.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@John\_hightechirrigation.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_hightechirrigation.com)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/35 "2018-06-29T20:16:16Z")
If someone can tell me how I can send recording I will ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/36 "2018-06-29T21:23:44Z")
> [@John\_hightechirrigation.com](#): > > If someone can tell me how I can send recording I will Upload your recording to [Vocaroo](https://vocaroo.com/?upload) and post a link. ---
**Author:** ![John\_hightechirrigation.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@John\_hightechirrigation.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_hightechirrigation.com)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/37 "2018-07-01T16:54:48Z")
That didn’t work all I have is a video with phone ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/38 "2018-07-02T01:29:14Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > I could not pick up the song on your links, but as I noted previously a brown thrasher is also a mimic and has similar sounds as a mockingbird. It is more musical. I gave a link to the thrasher’s notes above. I think you can rule out Brown Thrasher. They typically utter a random 2-4 note call, then repeat it exactly, try out another random 2-4 note call and repeat that one exactly, etc. Easily distinguished from other thrashers/mockingbird by that pattern. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/39 "2018-07-02T06:30:54Z")
> [@John\_hightechirrigation.com](#): > > That didn’t work all I have is a video with phone Not a chickadee? ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343/40 "2018-07-02T17:57:37Z")
> [@John\_hightechirrigation.com](#): > > That didn’t work all I have is a video with phone You can upload a video file to any number of hosting sites including youtube. Google “upload video (your brand/model of phone)” for specific instructions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-dfw-bird-with-varying-2-note-song/720343.md?page=3)