# If you Would, I Need Help to ID a Summer Bird in Alaska **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 2, 2020, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-would-i-need-help-to-id-a-summer-bird-in-alaska/854894 "2020-06-02T04:00:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kaiwik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaiwik/32/3978_2.png) [@kaiwik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaiwik)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-would-i-need-help-to-id-a-summer-bird-in-alaska/854894/1 "2020-06-02T04:00:29Z")
I am trying to occupy my mind with things other than the world suddenly going to hell. On my list of things to figure out is the identity of a particular bird. I do not have a visual of the bird, I only heard the bird calling this particular call in the early summer, so it could be a mating call. I have exhausted searching on a few sites, and I would be happy if I could at least listen to the call occasionally through the internet. I first heard the bird on the west side of Kodiak Island but I later heard it in many other places around the island, and also between Anchorage and Nikiski. Only after the snow had receded and the lower half of the hills were showing green, early morning and twilight were the best times to hear it, although it would call irregularly throughout the day. It only lasted for the first part of the season, by August the call, at least, was not heard. In the still air the call would travel over the water, three descending notes. Clear of trills, clean as plucked guitar strings. That’s all I have to offer by way of enticing a search, but perhaps someone else has been in Alaska and has heard the same bird, and has had better luck in identifying it. I know I am not the only Doper who found themselves, during their roaming, in Alaska That’s a lot of has-es, I apologize for my overly bad news basted brains for a lack of poetry in my prose. (I know, tl;dr and other things. My head hurts, sorry.) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-would-i-need-help-to-id-a-summer-bird-in-alaska/854894/2 "2020-06-02T04:20:04Z")
Hi, **Kaiwik** , maybe a ‘Coot’, (my best guess.). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-would-i-need-help-to-id-a-summer-bird-in-alaska/854894/3 "2020-06-02T04:35:00Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Hi, **Kaiwik** , maybe a ‘Coot’, (my best guess.). Why would you guess that? :dubious: American Coots (or any other kind of coot) aren’t found anywhere near Kodiak Island, and the call sounds nothing like the one described. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-would-i-need-help-to-id-a-summer-bird-in-alaska/854894/4 "2020-06-02T04:39:14Z")
To the OP. What kind of habitats did you hear the call in? Was it coming from the water, or was it on land? Any other clues? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-would-i-need-help-to-id-a-summer-bird-in-alaska/854894/5 "2020-06-02T04:41:17Z")
You’re the bird expert. I went and listened to a coot on Google. It said coots are in Alaska. It was a short search and a WAG. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-would-i-need-help-to-id-a-summer-bird-in-alaska/854894/6 "2020-06-02T04:47:18Z")
For what it’s worth, here’s a [bird checklist for Kodiak Island.](https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/checklist.jsp?region=USakko&list=howardmoore) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-would-i-need-help-to-id-a-summer-bird-in-alaska/854894/7 "2020-06-02T04:57:51Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > You’re the bird expert. I went and listened to a coot on Google. It said coots are in Alaska. That shows the problem with using Google. There are scattered records, but it’s very rare. There’s only ever been seven or eight records from Kodiak, and only one since 1998. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-would-i-need-help-to-id-a-summer-bird-in-alaska/854894/8 "2020-06-02T04:59:19Z")
This is kind of to get some input from the OP on the quality of the call, but have a listen to [Varied Thrush.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVVJmN_nyo8) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-would-i-need-help-to-id-a-summer-bird-in-alaska/854894/9 "2020-06-02T05:15:46Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > For what it’s worth, here’s a [bird checklist for Kodiak Island.](https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/checklist.jsp?region=USakko&list=howardmoore) Note that the checklist has [photos and recordings of all the species.](https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/checklist.jsp?lang=EN&p2=1&list=howardmoore&synlang=®ion=USakko&version=images&lifelist=&highlight=0) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-would-i-need-help-to-id-a-summer-bird-in-alaska/854894/10 "2020-06-02T08:36:30Z")
Maybe the [Hermit Thrush](https://musicofnature.com/project/hermit-thrush/)? I would describe the one call (here it is under the Voice tab, item 1.) as 3 clear descending notes, although it does end a bit more trill-y than the OP decribes, and they’re not supposed to repeat the same pattern regularly.