MD Osprey:

Count me among the legions who think that separating Cerulean and 
Black-throated Blue is not very difficult; however, much more 
problematic is confusion with what I call the "alternate song" of the 
Parula, but technical is known as the Type B, or western, song.

Here is more than you (n)ever wanted to know about it ...

         http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v111n04/p0505-p0514.pdf

         http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v109n02/p0215-p0222.pdf

Unfortunately. I couldn't easily find a sample of this on the web (!)

Hope this helps ... but it may not!

Phil


At 10:13 06/25/2008, Kathy Klimkiewicz wrote:

>I'll throw my '2-cents' into the discussion. I was totally fooled by the
>Parula Warblers on my Charles County Breeding Bird Survey route when I
>first took it over from Danny Bystrak (many, many years ago) and was
>convinced that I had Cerulean Warblers -- not so! The songs were the
>alternate that is really difficult to separate from Cerulean and every
>year I want to 'make them Ceruleans' but they aren't. I have never heard
>this song on any recordings that I have listened to over the years.
>
>
>Paul Woodward <>
>Sent by: Maryland Birds & Birding <>
>06/24/2008 11:36 AM
>
>Dave et. al.
>        I have a simple question for you-do you know the alternate song
>(referred to as Type B) of the parula?  I don't think it is on any of the
>bird song software.  It is very similar to the Cerulean Warbler's song. In
>the many hours I surveyed this area for ceruleans I often had trouble
>distinguishing the two.   This is why early in the nesting season I tried
>to see the singer to confirm that it was a cerulean.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Dave Brenneman" <>
>To: <>
>Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2008 5:42 PM
>Subject: [MDOSPREY] FW: Cerulean Warbler on canal towpath
>
>
>It seems like Marcy and I are taking heat for what we heard.  I 
>admit that we did not see the Cerulean, but we heard what we heard, 
>and we compared the sound to the sound of the National Geographic 
>software that we had with us.
>There were no other birders there at the time.  Listening to the 
>recordings referenced below does not change my mind.
>This was also a spot where the Cerulean had been verified in the past.
>We reported what we heard, to the best of our ability.  I didn't 
>have the photographic proof, sorry.

==================================
Phil Davis      Davidsonville, Maryland     USA
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