Tuesday 14 February 2012

Bird Song Quiz #5

The last Quiz is here and at the bottom of this post with answers. I had a noticeable increase in responses which was nice and I think it is largely due to the anonymous quiz format and because it was a lot easier to submit answers (especially if you don't have a google account) - so I'm hoping for just as many (and maybe even more) respondents for this one!

Quiz #5:




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Even if you don't think you're good enough or not confident enough to try these out, you should review the recordings with the answers because it's good practice and if you already know the songs it's a good way of keeping in tune with these birds while they're away during the winter!

And if you don't feel confident identifying the songs it's also helpful to try to listen for the song that I have noted. So if there's a Warbler singing at 0:06 try and hear the song and pick out when it begins and ends and note any patterns or pitch of the song (e.g. is it all one pitch repeated like a Pine Warbler or does it have '2 sections' like the Nashville Warbler with a series of high pitched notes followed by lower pitched notes...etc). There's a lot of different ways of describing the pattern and pitches of the songs - it's good to find what works for you.




Answers to the previous quiz (#4):




Blackburnian Warbler sang at 0:02 - most people (2/5) thought it was a Bay-breasted Warbler. And I have to say that it sure does sound like a Bay-breasted Warbler followed immediately by the song of a Blackburnian Warbler. So I'm not sure about that one and would welcome any thoughts!

A Black-throated Blue Warbler sang at 0:27 (2/5 got this correct)
Chestnut-sided Warbler calling throughout (2/5 got this correct)
A Veery sang at 0:19 (3/4 got this correct!)

The results were surprising for me because I thought the last 2 would be the hardest! Who is fluent with call notes of warblers anyway!? Apparently most people are equally fluent with call notes as with songs (I'll have to test that theory out some more). And apparently the easiest question was the one where I gave no clues. Admittedly, it's obvious that a thrush is singing and there is a limited number to choose from.