The other day when birding around Treman Lake at Upper Buttermilk, I came upon a vireo singing. As I listened, I was fairly confident it was a BLUE-HEADED. A bit later I heard the bird again, but this time I decided I must have been wrong, as it sounded more like a RED-EYED. The only problem was the bird was only singing once in awhile, not continuously as is often the case with the RED-EYED VIREO. I kept hearing the "bird" sing off and on for some time, and I continued to vacillate between the two species. I decided I had to see the bird to be sure, and eventually found a RED-EYED. With my confidence shaken, I resigned myself to the fact that I must have been mistaken in thinking I had heard a BLUE-HEADED, and was in dire need of more practice. Just about that time I caught sight of another bird within 5-10 feet of the RED-EYED. Lo and behold it was a BLUE-HEADED VIREO! It was then I realized that I had indeed been hearing the two singing near each other, _but only one at a time_. Is it possible that two closely related species might engage in counter singing, or was this just a very unusual coincidence???
Larry -- ================================ W. Larry Hymes 120 Vine Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 (H) 607-277-0759, w...@cornell.edu ================================ -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
