JP48

Could be a non-breeding Spotted Sandpiper.

Sounds something like an American Goldfinch. Otherwise, no ideas.

Unencumbered by top-notch hearing, I'd suggest Eastern Towhee. I heard one that sounded like that once, and I was a little confused until I spotted it. Since then I've noticed quite a variety in their songs.

Doesn't really sound quite like either, but a couple of possibilities are Dark-eyed Junco and Pine Warbler. The Juncos especially would be likely to be at high elevations this time of year.

Might be a Carolina Wren.

Interesting suggestion, thanks! I think that should have occurred to me before, having myself been surprised by their songs, also. Anyway, it appears it was most likely some common bird vocalizing in an uncommon way. Thanks for the reply.

Thanks for the reply. We did a little research, and we're pretty familiar with the normal birds around here, but we just couldn't come up with anything that fit. I was hoping it would trigger something for someone here. It was calling from the canopy, if that makes a difference. I suppose it could be something domestic, which would be outside my experience.

I'm not an expert, but I think you may be referring to the fact that ebird listings are reviewed by what is normally a local expert. I suspect that only the rarities and unusual (for the area being reported from) ones are looked at. I know the local reviewer where I normally bird. He has caught me in mistakes (usually fat fingers while entering lists), and I have convinced him that I was right in other cases. If the reviewer questions you, you would get an email, and be asked to explain your sighting. If you can't come to agreement, the sighting will remain on your lists, but not be visible to others. As I typed that, I realized that there is another factor. As you're entering your lists, a small flag should appear next to any unusual sighting. If it is really rare, you might not be able to enter it at all without providing some descriptive information. The whole thing can be frustrating, especially if you are really doing this (reporting on ebird) primarily for your own enjoyment, but the data is collected into a larger heap for scientific purposes, and the extra exercise helps keep the dataset more accurate and realistic. I hope this was in the way of an appropriate answer to the question you asked.

I heard this in the woods in northern Vermont. I don't recall hearing anything like it before, but it occurred to me later that it could be a Northern Cardinal. There are residences not too far away (road noise in the background).

Northern Pintail?

Sounds like this is true. The hummingbird.net site says this: Google has stopped offering free, anonymous use of its map API, which partially automated the location of sightings by zip/postal code using a utility a smart fellow wrote for me (and which I do not understand). I am not interested in fundraising, learning API programming, or opening a Google developer account. As a result, producing this map is no longer practical, and I'm not looking for alternatives. Thanks to all of you for your participation and support over 23 migration seasons, and my apologies for any inconvenience. If you want to know when migrants will reach your location, the historical maps are still available for reference. I encourage you to follow the migration and report your sightings at the Journey North website.

First week in May here in Northern Vermont. The current year's calendar hasn't started yet, but I use this map to watch them approach from the south. As of right now it still shows last year's sightings, but as they start to be reported this year a new map will appear. http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html

This has been a very interesting discussion. I stopped to take stock of what I already have, and how I use each. For paper I have Sibley's, Natgeo, Crossley, The Warbler Guide, Hawks in Flight, Birding by Impression, a Shorebird guide, and a few regional issues. Some of those aren't really guides,and definitely aren't meant to be used in the field. I rarely carry any of these into the field - mainly too bulky for me,personally. For electronics, I have iBird and the Warbler Guide that I use. These are on an iPad mini,which makes them a little harder to carry than a phone would be. I carry the iPad sometimes, but not always. I also carry a camera some of the time. I use the paper stuff at home, but I'm more apt to use the electronic stuff. Would I buy the minibook reference? No. Would I buy an iBird Wallet? Yes, and I would carry it all the time,even when not birding.

...according to wrens. Backstory: I watched the wrens building this late-season nest in the feeder (we don't feed birds in the summer). They had previously successfully nested elsewhere, as evidenced by the begging young hanging around. One day they disappeared. I didn't think too much about it until about 5 weeks later when I took the feeder down to clean it.

If you use eBird there are some tricks you can do, or you can get another user to do it for you.