Subject: Junco mimics
Date: Feb 16 14:54:53 2001
From: Robert Sundstrom - ixoreus at home.com
Michelle, Rob, and Tweeters,
I think perhaps what you are hearing is Dark-eyed Junco subsong (whisper
song), which a lot of songbirds sing in late winter and early spring,
preceding their production of typical advertising song a bit later in the
season. Subsong seems to have a lot of variety, and often seems very
speeded up. I have marveled at junco subsong for years and used this
species as an example in my Birding by Ear classes, because their subsong
seems so strikingly complex compared to their typical spring trills. I have
heard subsong from American Goldfinches and White-crowned Sparrows in the
last few days too.
Bob Sundstrom
----- Original Message -----
From: <WMeadowlark at att.net>
To: <rsaecker at thurston.com>
Cc: <WMeadowlark at att.net>
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 1:09 PM
Subject: Re: Junco mimics
> Hi, Rob,
>
> Just the other day, in front of Madigan Hospital on Ft.
> Lewis, I heard a junco doing almost the same thing. He
> was interspersing his regular junco song with little
> snips of melody. I didn't think of them as robinish
> until your letter to Tweeters, but now that I think of
> it, you're right, the one I heard was singing in robin
> as well as juncos.
> I have no idea if juncos mimic, but this is the first
> time I've EVER heard a junco do anything other than
> trill and chip.
> Nor do I know if this is a regional peculiarity, or a
> new phenomenon, or what. It's nice, though.
> Michelle Blanchard
> WMeadowlark at att.net
> Oly, WA
>
>