I’ve been going crazy the last couple of days because of some species of bird around here-- crazy song they’ve started lately that sounds like an American Robin singing Kraftwerk-- Robin-like voice but nothing I’d ever heard before. A sort of rising multinote thing that ended in a mechanical warble. And I could absolutely not manage a sighting. Realizing that if I asked about it here with that description I’d get laughed at I made some wild guesses on some birdsong sites, and found that it’s Swainson’s Thrush . Whee! And to tell you truth, maybe because they nest low down, I don’t think I’ve seen one (or if I did I forgot to mark it down-- it does look familiar), but by the sound outside this evening they’re apparently legion here.
God, what a nerd.
That is an awesome song. What is your general location capybara? And congrats on the ID- not many people hear the natural world at all any more, and with all the technological noise pollution, much of the world hears traffic or electrical hum instead of birdsong. Cool.
In Vancouver, BC. I dabble in birdwatching and since there’s a limited variety around here I can hear the funny sounding ones. I live next to a big wilderness park so it’s very cool.
Congratulations!
I got a red-eyed vireo by sound the other day, but only because earlier in the week we’d been with my aunt and uncle, both really good birders. They pointed out a bird in the woods and said it was a red-eyed vireo and I said “Oh, I hear that at the house all the time!”
Sure enough, two days later, we’re sitting on the deck and I hear that same tune. Couldn’t quite remember the name of the bird, but a few minutes with the singy-birdy-book fixed that.
Oh! Just remembered… not really by sound but close. A few weeks ago I was working in my office and a birdsong caught my ear. “Now THAT’S not normal,” I think to myself. I get up and look out the window. There’s a yellow-bellied sapsucker hanging on the tree. Definitely not normal. I wouldn’t have gotten up and looked if I hadn’t recognized the sound as something other than the standard birds in my yard.
Limited variety in BC? Come on now. I was in Banff a few years ago and it had wonderful birding. Thats onlly a couple hundred miles east of you…
I had a ruby breasted Grosbeak the other day by sound. Then again they create such a cacophany it wasn’t difficult.
Check this out: See Plenty of Birding
Well, I meant “in the quarter mile around my apartment.” Neat site, however-- thanks.
This cracks me up for some reason. I can really hear it…