>Jim Speicher wrote:
>I recall in OSPREY about this time last year a discussion that took place 
>concerning Mockers fooling people into >thinking they were hearing "hot" 
>birds.

Reports of bird identifications based entirely on voice are tricky. If an 
observer is very familar with a song or call, and the vocalization is 
clearly a typical one for the species without any chance of confusion, the 
ID is almost certainly right. But how do you prove it to someone else? Our 
language for describing sounds is much poorer than it is for describing 
visual features like plumage, shape, and size; which makes defending such 
observations devilish.

On the other hand not only mockers can imitate other birds, let's not forget 
all those starlings trying to convince us of the existence of March and 
early April pewees. The source may even be unexpected. There was once a 
story on NPR about an early April Black-throated Green Warbler, heard in 
song but not seen, that was eventually found to be a White-throated Sparrow. 
A couple of years ago I had a Black-throated Green that had a song that 
sounded a lot like a Swainson's Warbler. Birds learn how to sing from other 
birds, sometimes from the wrong species. It always helps to see a bird to 
feel comfortable that an out-of-season voice indeed belongs to the bird you 
thought it was.

I don't see why it's totally out of the question for an exuberant Common 
Yellowthroat to burst into song on a warmish late winter day, it's just nice 
to be re-assured the observer took other possibilities into account.

Good Birding,

Walter Ellison

23460 Clarissa Road
Chestertown, MD 21620
phone: 410-778-9568
e-mail: 

"A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B. 
White (in "Stuart Little")

"Are there *ever* enough birds?" - Connie Hagar as quoted by Edwin Way Teale 
in "Wandering through Winter"