Went to see the Dickcissel this morning in Antieum---no luck. But, stopped by Lilyponds on the way home and caught the King Rail walking on the grass strip between two ponds on the left as you drive in. Made my morning.  
 
Robert Parsons 
 
-------------------------- 
Robert  
 
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Maryland Birds & Birding <> 
To:  <> 
Sent: Fri Jul 13 07:46:57 2007 
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Songbirds Prefer the Latest Tunes 
 
On a similar note (sorry - I had to), I've been going to post an update on 
last summer's "mystery bird." As some may recall, I finally resolved the 
strange song I was hearing as a "malfunctioning" Wood Thrush. The bird 
returned this year - the song is unmistakable, and I recorded it. I'll put 
it online if I ever find time to edit it. 
 
The interesting part is that one morning I encountered this bird and another 
Wood Thrush counter-singing, or maybe they were doing a duet. The other bird 
also was singing the "deviant" song. Although the variety of phrasing and 
note combinations of Wood Thrush songs seems infinite, they all (in my 
experience) follow a similar pattern. These two were both starting their 
songs with rising, shrill patterns that, by themselves, would be hard to 
recognize as a WT. They would finish in the traditional ways, but their 
beginnings were quite distinct, and actually sounded complementary, like a 
couple of jazz musicians trying to outdo each other. 
 
I know, it ain't science - lots of anthropomorphism here. It does give me 
thoughts on where our love of music comes from though. It has also crossed 
my mind that our comfort and enjoyment of bird song (and soft, furry 
creatures too) is that when we hear and see them, it's an indication that 
there aren't any nasty predators around (except us, of course). 
 
fdp 
 
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Fred Pierce (DNRC)- avialantic.com 
--------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On 
> Behalf Of Bill Hubick 
> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 6:48 AM 
> To:  
> Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Songbirds Prefer the Latest Tunes 
> 
> 
> I can't help but comment on this. Although it's an interesting 
> study and I don't doubt the "findings" will be proven true, it 
> seems that her data set is far too small. She plays a song 
> recorded in 1979 and a song recorded in 2003 and then speaks 
> confidently about the implications of the birds reacting more to 
> the latter. With a data set that small, there could be hundreds 
> of reasons why the birds react more to one. For example, the 1979 
> bird could have had a song that wasn't liked in 1979, or the 
> audio quality could be better in some way on the 2003 tape, or 
> many other reasons. 
> 
> I strongly support studies like this, but we shouldn't be willing 
> to accept new "science" on such wimpy evidence. Being critical in 
> general increases our credibility when it really matters. 
> 
> Bill 
> 
> Bill Hubick 
> Pasadena, Maryland 
>  
> http://www.billhubick.com 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ---- 
> From: Jim and Ann Nelson <> 
> To:  
> Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 5:55:33 PM 
> Subject: [MDOSPREY] Songbirds Prefer the Latest Tunes 
> 
> 
> If you think bird songs sound different than when you first heard 
> them years ago, there may be something to it. 
> http://www.livescience.com:80/animals/070710_latest_song.html 
> 
> Jim Nelson 
> Bethesda, MD 
>  
>