Audio from a New Mexico Valley

[Jerry Friedman]

Me again. These are near the Rio Grande, Española, N.M., this morning.

1. A robin-like song.  A robin would be really unusual here in summer, but I'm not saying it couldn't happen.  Black-headed Grosbeaks are expected (and I heard one a mile or so away), but it doesn't seem to have a wide enough pitch range or the descending slides.  I'd like it to be a Summer Tanager, which is rare, but there was a family last summer within a couple miles.  Maybe the sound is too smooth, though.

2. This one and the next might be just more sounds from the ubiquitous Yellow-breasted Chats (and ignore the ubiquitous Yellow Warblers and common Western Wood-Pewees).  On this one I'm interested in the descending "rolled r" at around 0:04, 0:16, 0:23, 0:35, and 0:51 (I think that's the same thing).

3. The little "bdoot" at 0:03, 0:12 (I think), 0:21, and 0:44.

 

robinq83.mp3 descendingtrill82crop.mp3 kabrick07.mp3

[Jerry Friedman]

While you're here, @Hasan...

Edited July 15, 2021 by Jerry Friedman
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[Hasan]

1. Sounds fine for Black-headed Grosbeak IMO

2. House Wren. Interestingly it's a very similar call to that which is made by Carolina Wrens, and House Wrens in the east do not make this sound

3 is not coming to me, it's not easy for someone who no longer lives in the southwest but it's almost certainly solvable by someone else

[Jerry Friedman]

 

2 hours ago, Hasan said:

1. Sounds fine for Black-headed Grosbeak IMO

2. House Wren. Interestingly it's a very similar call to that which is made by Carolina Wrens, and House Wrens in the east do not make this sound

3 is not coming to me, it's not easy for someone who no longer lives in the southwest but it's almost certainly solvable by someone else

Thanks!  House Wren, who'd have thought?  I'd better learn that one.

(I assume there are separate trademark offices for East and West, and Carolina Wren got that one for the East but House Wren got it for the West.)

[Melierax]

1. I'm liking Summer Tanager.. The phrases are too separated for BHGR, and also you can hear some high pitched phrases as well... but the individual phrases fit better for Tanager than Robin. 

2. Yellow-breasted Chats. They make the chatter and churr sound

3. Another Chat

Edited July 15, 2021 by Melierax

[Seanbirds]

22 minutes ago, Melierax said:

1. I'm liking Summer Tanager.. The phrases are too separated for BHGR, and also you can hear some high pitched phrases as well... but the individual phrases fit better for Tanager than Robin. 

2. Yellow-breasted Chats. They make the chatter and churr sound

3. Another Chat

Agree with @Melierax

[Hasan]

3 hours ago, Melierax said:

1. I'm liking Summer Tanager.. The phrases are too separated for BHGR, and also you can hear some high pitched phrases as well... but the individual phrases fit better for Tanager than Robin. 

2. Yellow-breasted Chats. They make the chatter and churr sound

3. Another Chat

I'm pretty confused by this. Obviously there are chats in the second recording, but you're saying the call in question is also a chat? Here's the House Wren call I'm referring to: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/56882

The first recording sounds far too sickly and weak for Summer Tanager IMO, but hey I could be wrong.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Hasan

[Seanbirds]

45 minutes ago, Hasan said:

The first recording sounds far too sickly and weak for Summer Tanager IMO

Kinda what I was thinking, but it sounds too slow for a BHGR, no?

[Connor Cochrane]

47 minutes ago, Seanbirds said:

Kinda what I was thinking, but it sounds too slow for a BHGR, no?

I’ve heard them sing this slow. I’m fine with BHGR. 

[Melierax]

5 hours ago, Hasan said:

I'm pretty confused by this. Obviously there are chats in the second recording, but you're saying the call in question is also a chat? Here's the House Wren call I'm referring to: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/56882

The first recording sounds far too sickly and weak for Summer Tanager IMO, but hey I could be wrong.

The quality is completely wrong for HOWR. There's far too few notes and it's very clear and bright sounding. Here's the difference in spectrograms:

One major thing that makes me lean SUTA is the fact that every phrase is about the same length. BHGR tend to have wide variety between phrases, giving it the feel that it's alternating between short and long phrases. I'm not getting a "sickly" vibe - you might be getting that in part just because it's in the background of a fuzzy recording.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Melierax

[Melierax]

3 hours ago, Connor Cochrane said:

I’ve heard them sing this slow. I’m fine with BHGR. 

It's not just that it's slow - see my above post. The actual phrases are wrong IMO.

[Jerry Friedman]

I got another opinion on the first recording, from a xeno-canto contributor, Bruce Lagerquist.  He wrote,

"It's not manic enough for a Black-headed Grosbeak. The cadence is bit too measured for a Robin. It seems to match up nice to a Summer Tanager. XC449558 Thanks for posting that up."