I totally agree with Rick. On Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 07:51 PM, rc...@nyc.rr.com wrote:
Karen: Don’t confuse lack of interest with folks not having enough expertise on the topic to feel they are qualified to contribute to the discussion (e.g., me). I for, one, was fascinated, and look forward to further developments. Rick Cech P.S. Also add kudos for the fine tern id discussion, Joe, Shai & others. We’re fortunate to have individuals in the community with such depths of insight and experience. From: bounce-122638804-3714...@list.cornell.edu <bounce-122638804-3714...@list.cornell.edu> On Behalf Of Karen Fung Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2018 2:46 PM To: nysbirds-L@cornell.edu Subject: [nysbirds-l] Henslows Sparrow redux: Shawangunk Grasslands, NWR (Ulster County) Hi All, A few weeks ago, I posted a query to the list, noting that this year's Henslow's Sparrow at Shawangunk is singing a different song compared to the single song recorded by multiple observers last year, and wondering if that was enough of an indication that this year's bird is a different individual. That post did not really elicit much interest, based on the little feedback I received. Since then, I wrote to a few people directly, including Nathan Pieplow, whose book, "Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America", was published last year. Am including my direct query to him. Nathan agrees that this year's bird is almost certainly a different individual, and he gave me permission to post his reply, which you will see below. For those interested, the screen shot of the spectrograms that I sent to him is now online on my website, in this gallery. You can see from the screen shot that the first four spectrograms show a "Mi-Re-Do" sequence of notes, and they are all from this year's bird. The remaining spectrograms show a "Mi-Do-Re" type sequence of notes. Both three syllable "songs", just a different sequence of sounds. https://www.birdsiviews.com/Henslows-Sparrow-Shawangunk-Grasslands/ <https://www.birdsiviews.com/Henslows-Sparrow-Shawangunk-Grasslands/> If you want to see and play back the entire eBird collection of spectrograms and audio files for both Shawangunk birds, the link is here: https://ebird.org/media/catalog?taxonCode=henspa&mediaType=a®ion=Ulster,%20New%20York,%20United%20States%20(US)®ionCode=US-NY-111&q=Henslow%27s%20Sparrow%20-%20Ammodramus%20henslowii <https://ebird.org/media/catalog?taxonCode=henspa&mediaType=a®ion=Ulster,%20New%20York,%20United%20States%20(US)®ionCode=US-NY-111&q=Henslow%27s%20Sparrow%20-%20Ammodramus%20henslowii> Nathan's reply and my query to him follow here. -------------- Karen, Thanks for the email! I'm very glad you like my book. We need to get more people using it! I'm about as certain as I can be that the 2018 bird is a different individual than the 2017 bird. Here's why: · Henslow's is a poorly studied species. But in the research for my book, I never found a documented case of an individual Henslow's switching songtypes on a recording. · You've got a pretty good sample size of recordings here. I went through all the 2018 recordings and every rendition is identical. I didn't go through all the 2017 recordings but in my sample, they were all identical to each other and different from the 2018 bird. · All the 2017 and 2018 recordings in your sample are stereotyped, not plastic. This basically ensures the recordings come from adult birds. It has been shown in many passerine species that once birds are adults, they cannot learn new songs. A few birds have been shown to break this rule (like Northern Mockingbird), but it would be a surprise for Henslow's Sparrow. · The 2017 and 2018 songs differ in many details -- one is not merely a truncation of the other. This is actually a pretty good test case for the number of songtypes per individual Henslow's Sparrow. If birders visit the same bird many times over the course of a season and never document any song variation, it's very good evidence that each individual has a single songtype. Plus, it happens to fit with the little we know about song in Henslow's, and a great deal that we know about song in passerines in general. So, I'd say you have a new bird this year. Nathan On Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 3:59 AM, Karen Fung <easternblueb...@gmail.com <mailto:easternblueb...@gmail.com> > wrote: Dear Nathan, I very much enjoyed your presentation at the Linnaean Society (NY) last year, and bought your book as soon as it came out. I grew up playing the piano as a hobby, so am used to seeing sounds presented in visual form. Spectrograms are a great aid in learning bird song! Anyway, I'm writing to hopefully get your thoughts on whether you think the male Henslow's Sparrow that is currently singing at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR (NY: Ulster County) is a different bird from last year's since its spectrogram is slightly different. See below for part of an email that I sent to local birders. Was told that Henslow's hasn't nested at Shawungunk in maybe 30 years, and that last year's sighting was the first one documented in recent memory. That alone made some folks think that the current bird had to be the same one as last year's due to its rarity. Last year it was around for maybe ten days, singing incessantly. This year it also sings non-stop, but the sequence of notes is different. This year it has a mate, so could it be singing a different song just based on that fact? Your book seemed to indicate that Henslow's only has one song in its repertoire.. but could it have modulated its song between seasons?. Some birders agree that it is likely to be a different bird, based on its different song, plus its plumage appears to be paler this year (but I'm not sure how to evaluate plumage if the bird has molted). Any thoughts would be appreciated. The attached screen shot was taken a few days ago. The link to the eBird data for the audio files is below. Best Wishes, Karen Fung Manhattan -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive <http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> ABA <http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> Please submit your observations to eBird <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> ! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive <http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> ABA <http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> Please submit your observations to eBird <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/> ! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
