Tweeters,
I thought it was very difficult to pick out several Pacific Golden-Plovers
from a flock of Black-bellied Plovers in the furrows of a plowed field a few
hundred feet away through the heat waves this May. And I was too tired to make
out the Wandering Tattlers in the rocks with a scope pointed right at them at
Westport in April. But when I was the lucky one that got to see a VEERY on a
field trip up the Skagit River in June, I thought I'd better write out what
helped me do it, so I can do it again and so I might help someone else who's
never seen one before.

It helped a lot that I've gotten a couple very good looks at Swainson's
Thrushes from focusing on following their song this summer. It helped a lot that
I took Bob Sundstrom's Birding By Ear class at SAS and had just taken his field
trip on the east slope of the mountains the previous weekend. It helped a lot
that our trip leader knew where VEERY'S had been and called one in with a tape of
its song and call. It helped a lot that I'd been studying its song and call for
a couple days in preparation.

Our leader heard the VEERY call as we first went by, but it was faint and
quit calling, so we moved on, hearing and seeing lots of other birds further in
from the road. On the way out, we heard the bird again, and the tape was used to
bring it closer. In retrospect, the bird's voice did not have the carrying power
I was expecting. From 30-50' the call seemed comparatively loud, but beyond 100'
difficult to discern. Several influencing factors occur to me: 1) I'd never
focused on this sound in the field before, so it was not familiar, 2) the song is
2-4 KHz, so it's lower pitched than many other passerines, 3) Swainson's, at
least, seems to carry well in the evening, perhaps due to less competition,
perhaps due to damper conditions--does a wet forest carry thrush sounds better
than dry?

After we'd looked and looked, the leader took the tape 100' or so closer to
Highway 20. Because the forest here was wedge-shaped, this had the effect of
narrowing the trees between the tape and the highway. At first, the bird stayed
where it was and flew across the road where we'd been standing before to try to
see it's competitor. We didn't get very good looks, so the leader let us know
this was the last tape attempt, presumably so we wouldn't over-stress the bird.
It helped that I was standing right next to the tape. I finally had the sense to
cup my ears with my hands, close my eyes, and try to aurally locate the bird. I
cupped one hand slightly above the center of my ear, and one slightly below to
try to triangulate this complex, echoing, ventriloquist-like sound. As with the
Swainson's Thrushes in weeks before, I then opened my eyes, and, still not seeing
the bird, raised my binoculars. We were in deeper trees than my last good
Swainson's find, and I did not see the bird right away. I know I looked around
in the field of vision a bit, I may have moved my body for different perspective,
but I don't think I moved the binoculars from my spot much. I was still
listening hard.

Suddenly, I saw it right before me. It was facing us in the same posture as
a singing Swainson's, beak up, throat exposed, wings held slightly out to the
sides. The speckling was not as heavy as Swainson's and did not extend as far
down the breast. Other than that, it looked like a Swainson's to me, except it
was singing the wrong song. The VEERY was on a low limb of a conifer right next
to the trunk. I pointed my arm and finger to try to help others see it. That
with the tape stopping may have been what caused the bird to hop onto the trunk
turning its back to us and to seem to disappear with its excellent camouflage.
It stayed on and around the front of the trunk and appeared to fly-catch around
the lower limbs as it slowly worked its way up while keeping an occasional eye on
us. I finally lost it in the foliage of the tree. I'm not a great judge of
distance, but I'd say I saw the bird 15-20' up and 30-40' in on a tree about one
layer into the forest.

I've been birding 1-3x a week the last two months, usually in habitat that's
new to me and I've had several new birds, but this was one of the most personally
rewarding finds. I'm sold on birding by ear. Thank you, Bob Sundstrom.

Please direct questions or comments to me privately, especially if you think
I'm out of line with this message!
Patricia



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Seattle, WA
VariedThrush at comcast.net