Folks,

I lived in Northern Utah for almost 20 years prior to moving to Seattle
in the spring of 1992. I recall hearing the soft, high pitched "eeer"
call from Utah robins a number of times, mostly in fall and winter.

Maureen E. Ellis (me2 at u.washington.edu, U of WA, Seattle, WA)

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On Thu, 21 Dec 1995, Christopher Hill wrote:

>
>
> On Thu, 21 Dec 1995, Don Baccus wrote:
>
> > Actually, I've heard Robins make the sound Kathleen describes. It is
> > a bit humbling to know that a common bird like this can surprise
> > one after years of birding!
>
> I, too, have been surprised by robins giving the soft whistled "eer." I
> have heard it perhaps 4 or 5 times since I moved to Washington State 15
> months ago, and always from a robin perched very still in a tree, as
> Kathleen described. However, in 20 years of birding in the east (NY, MA,
> KY) I never recall hearing robins do that. It seems like an unlikely
> coincidence (but possiible) that I started noticing it only when I hit the
> Pacific NW, if it is really widespread. I bird about 95% by ear, so I am
> usually pretty tuned in to unusual sounds. I know it caught my
> attention immediately when I first heard it here - I would think it
> would have been even more obvious to me back East, where the rest of the
> bird sounds are so much more familiar to me. Does anybody recall hearing
> that call outside of Cascadia?
>
> Chris Hill
> Everett, WA
> cehill at u.washington.edu
>
>