Ryan,
   
    First, hats off to you for getting such a good recording. What equipment were you using?  It almost sounds like it could be a Sennheiser mike..(!)
        This is definitely not a Blackburnian.  Blackburnian Warblers have a much higher, thinner tonality combined with only a slight raspiness or buzz, overall sweeter and less buzzier than this bird. The last part of their song is usually the classic titi-tseeeee, rising upward rapidly off the scale.  Their songs are high enough that they are inaudible to most people with upper range hearing loss.  This bird in the recording is no where near that high in frequency.
   
  Parulas have a steadily-upward rising inflection, even if it is sometimes staggered in a "zeee-zeee -zeee-up" fashion.  Each note is almost always higher in frequency than the first.  This song in question goes zurrr-zurrr-zurrr-zer-zer-zer-zreee, with all but the last "zreee" on the same frequency, which is BT-Blue/Cerulean like.

  I have heard many BT Blues make Cerulean-like songs like this, and they can be VERY deceptive.  However, if this bird was up in the treetops of say, mature oaks, I would definitely say it is Cerulean. Given that the second part of the song is much more rapid than the first, I lean heavily toward Cerulean, as this is more typical of the species.  The B-T Blues that I've heard give a rapid, Cerulean-like song, usually have the same phrase interval throughout, but I'm not ruling it out completely, depending on where in the forest strata and what type of forest it was found in.
   
  Thanks for the interesting challenge.
   
  Ross Geredien
  Annapolis
   
   
  
Ryan Farrell <> wrote:
  Many thanks to all those who have responded (Tim Spahr, Albert Goetz, Kari,
Gerry Hawkins, John Dennehy, Robert Ostrowski, Chris Starling, Vanessa
Girton, Jeff Shenot, Elise Kreiss, Jim Wilson, did I miss anyone?).

I'm not certain that we really have a concensus. The nominees are Northern
Parula, Blackburnian Warbler, Cerulean Warbler. A few individuals based
their opinions on the longer (about 1:41 mins long) audio clip:

http://www.cs.umd.edu/~farrell/UNK_5May08_LONG.wma

The count is:
Blackburnian 5
Parula 2
Cerulean 3

While that seems to lean in favor or Blackburnian, I'd like to throw in some
comments which don't support that ID:

"Blackburnian never ends in that terminal note like that, and it is never as
strong and emphatic. It is more thin and wiry. The Cerulean sings two
songs. But the
key, defining characteristic is that terminal buzz. There's no other
warbler that does it."

"I don't like Blackburnian for two reasons. The end note here is a buzzy
note; with Blackburnian it is a clearer whistle that is higher than that of
your bird."


If it helps to listen again to the longer version, please do... I'd love to
get additional ideas, given both the tally and the above comments. After
listening to recordings of these 3 species, I'm leaning toward cerulean, but
I know that most of you have much more experience than I do.


Thanks again to all who replied to my first email and thanks in advance to
those contributing additional input,
Ryan



       
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