The song Gary recorded is the song I've heard from a Yellow-throated Warbler in the Renwick/Pier Rd area this month several times, a series of loud double notes, of which the second note is lower, but each double note is the same. Although I also heard fainter introductory and ending notes, they were not very noticeable nor accented, so basically from a distance you hear:
"TEE-TU TEE-TU TEE-TU TEE-TU TEE-TU TEE-TU"
This apparently uncommon song is also what Stuart recorded. From Ken's description it may be what he heard as well.
However, the last time I heard & saw a Yellow-throated Warbler at this location, on 23 May about 6:50am, it sounded like most recordings of the species and like I've heard in NJ, a series of similar notes, each descending in pitch and the later notes being a bit lower, except the last note, which rises:
"teer teer teer teer teer teer tu wee?"
Or exaggerating the pitch change:
"teer teer teer wee"
teer teer teer tu
When I heard a second song from this location, I wondered:
Does the first song represent some basic innate pattern on which the usual song is built?
Has the first bird finally learned the correct song, perhaps from people trying playback?
Does the first song indicate something different from the second, such as mating status?
Is the second song simply from a second bird?
Now that Gary reports two birds singing and also two birds mating, that raises more questions. Did both singing birds sing the same type song? Do females sing, and if so do they sing a different song? Or were there two males and at least one female?
--Dave Nutter
PS - Gary, did you really mean "Ken's great sighing" (very apt), or did you mean "Ken's great sighting" (also very apt)?
On May 25, 2012, at 08:36 PM, Gary Kohlenberg <jg...@cornell.edu> wrote:
Inspired by Ken's great sighing I made my seventh trip to Pier Rd. for this bird. After about 1/2 hr. of cruising up and down the walkway I was able to see one Yellow-throated Warbler foraging in the Sycamores by the tee. It eventually started singing and then I heard a second one across the river singing. I managed to get three recordings of the song on my phone. Things got crazy for a while when a Coopers Hawk flew in to sit in the same Sycamore ! My thanks went to the Starlings that managed to beat him into submission; leaving for friendlier territory.
My looks were considerably higher in the canopy and they also included, what appeared to be, copulation. At least one bird continued to sing but wasn't visible as the breeze kept the leaves moving too much for me to pick out.
Gary
On May 25, 2012, at 10:07 AM, Kenneth Victor Rosenberg wrote:
8th time's a charm! With a brief window in downtown Ithaca before an appointment, I decided to give a listen at the sycamores by the 3rd tee of Ithaca city golf course (Pier Rd). Arriving at 8:20, I immediately heard the double-noted song of a YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER out my car window -- it was among the loudest bird songs there and easily heard over the noisy grass-cutters and other truck noise in the area. I spotted the bird mid-height in the sycamore closest to Fall Creek, and then it flew up very high in the sycamores over the 3rd tee, continuing to sing.
While I was following the singing bird, I heard a loud chip closer by and was surprised to see a SECOND YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER foraging lower in the sycamore. I followed the second bird for awhile as the first bird sang -- it (she?) flew from cluster to cluster of newly opening sycamore leaves, working its way higher in the trees. Then, I briefly saw the singing bird fly to the second bird and they had a brief (seemingly nonagressive) interaction partially hidden from view -- this was possibly a brief copulation. The two birds then took off to the north, flying towards or over the fire-training building area. No more songs were heard in the 10 minutes I remained in the area.
These birds behaved exactly as a breeding pair would be expected to behave, which is not that surprising given the longevity and irregular appearance of the singing male (probably using a larger home range), the perfectly suitable habitat, northward expansion of many species, and global warming in general. Others hopefully will be able to document and confirm this breeding activity in the coming weeks.
KEN
Ken Rosenberg
Conservation Science Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
607-254-2412
607-342-4594 (cell)
k...@cornell.edu
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