On Tue, 18 May 1999, Don Baccus wrote:

> At 03:58 PM 5/18/99 -0700, two.wing-nuts at juno.com wrote:
> >How does one ascertain that a given vocalization is being produced by the
> >bird it sounds like as opposed to being mimicked by one of our many
> >mimickers? The other day my wife had the binocs on a starling repeatedly
> >giving the "chicago" call of the California quail? Just curious.....not
> >trying to start a range war. Hans
>
> Habitat helps a lot. Whenever I hear a killdeer call from the
> top of a telephone pole in SE Portland, I know it's a starling.

Nevertheless, in a rocky field south of Tacoma, it can easily be either!

Nick Pharris
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447
(253)535-7045
pharrinj at plu.edu