Hello Olivier,
I accept that to more experienced NA ears the Swiss call does not sit
comfortably with Swainson’s Thrush. Bill Evans told me it ends at a frequency
that would make it atypical for the species, and some clear modulation would
also be desirable.
However, the Chaffinch call you are referring to is not a flight call but a
breeding season call used in a songlike manner. I’ve never heard it after the
summer. The two flight calls of Chaffinch are a low, soft, rapidly descending
‘puw’ and a loud, bright ‘pink’, especially when flying alone.
I also hear finches at night now and then, but of the genus Fringilla i’ve
heard Brambling a few times and almost never Chaffinch despite Brambling being
much less common. Other night finches here include European Goldfinch and, this
year in particular, Hawfinch.
Best,
Magnus
> On 10 Nov 2017, at 02:22, Olivier Barden wrote:
>
> Magnus,
>
> The Swiss recording does not sound like a Swainson's Thrush to me, other than
> superficially. The spectrographic signature of this call doesn't look right,
> either. Could this simply be a Chaffinch? Its quite low-pitched, and there
> seems to be a bit of echo. I rarely hear finches at night in North
> America--they are for the most part diurnal migrants, like Chaffinch--but it
> happens. Compare with this recording: http://www.xeno-canto.org/381677
>
> Regards,
>
> Olivier Barden
> Quebec, Canada
>
>> On Thu, Nov 9, 2017 at 5:52 AM, Magnus Robb wrote:
>> I like the idea of a detector for Catharus thrushes on Scilly! But there are
>> two places perhaps better qualified than that. This year saw three records
>> in Cork, southwest Ireland and just one on Scilly. But the ‘European’
>> capital for North American vagrants is now Corvo in the Azores (actually
>> it’s on the North American side of the mid-Atlantic ridge!). Have a look at
>> this list of what was found there this autumn.
>>
>> http://birdingcorvo2013.blogspot.pt
>>
>> Talking of Catharus thrushes in unexpected places, I’d be interested to know
>> what North Americans make of this. I was surfing around on Xeno-canto the
>> other day and I came across this mystery NFC recorded by Thomas Lüthi (CC)
>> in his garden in Switzerland in September 2015. To me it sounds like a
>> Swainson’s Thrush, and I can’t think of anything European that comes this
>> close. How does it sound to people with real experience of this species? I
>> only know the NFC of Swainson’s from recordings.
>>
>> http://www.xeno-canto.org/386520
>>
>> all the best,
>>
>> Magnus Robb
>>
>>
>> > On 09 Nov 2017, at 00:08:26, Ted Floyd wrote:
>> >
>> > Sure looks (and sounds) like it to me. I think you can even rule out
>> > Bicknell's, haha.
>> >
>> > As you say, it is exciting. This brings up something I've been meaning to
>> > propose: Given how many Gray-cheeked and Swainson's thrushes are actually
>> > seen in Britain, it occurs to me that it might be cool to put up a
>> > detector on the Isles of Scilly pointing out toward the ocean. Especially
>> > near a light, if there is one. We all know the truism that you can hear
>> > more Gray-cheeks in an hour than you might see in a lifetime. If that
>> > applies to thrushes excitedly approaching the British Isles, imagine how
>> > many thrushes you might detect that way.
>> >
>> > Best, --Ted
>> >
>> > Ted Floyd
>> > Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
>> >
>> > ===
>> >
>> > Ted Floyd
>> > Editor, Birding magazine
>> > Managing Editor, North American Birds
>> >
>> > Website: http://aba.org/birding
>> > Twitter: http://twitter.com/BirdingMagazine
>> > The ABA Blog: http://blog.aba.org/
>> >
>> > On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 3:09 PM, Debbie Leick wrote:
>> > Hey folks,
>> > Could this be anything other than a Gray-cheeked Thrush? We get many
>> > Swainson's Thrush but this is so different. Recorded in Victor, MT,
>> > 9/14/17, ~5:45am. It would be a first for us since we began monitoring in
>> > 2012. Also, I could not find any records of GCTH west of the Montana
>> > continental divide in either eBird or the MT Natural Heritage Program
>> > database. So if it is, a very exciting record for us!
>> > Thanks in advance for any guidance!
>> > Debbie
>> >
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