Tweeters,

The following message also appears not to have made it to Tweeters,
although Martyn's response appeared, as I also sent him a private
copy.
So here's a second try!

----- Original Message -----
From: Wayne C. Weber <contopus at telus.net>
To: MARTYN STEWART <mstew at naturesound.org>
Cc: TWEETERS <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2004 10:05 AM
Subject: Distinguishing Purple Finch and House Finch songs


> Martyn,
>
> Unlike your experience, I have never had any difficulty in
> distinguishing Purple Finch songs from House Finch songs. Bravery is
> not involved here. I would describe a typical Purple Finch song as
> being longer and more rapidly delivered than House Finch songs, and
> without the burry notes so typical of House Finches. Purple Finch
> songs also usually include mimicry of call-notes of several other
> species-- have you noticed this? It should be possible to confirm
this
> by comparing sonagrams.
>
> Of course, the ease that I have in distinguishing House Finch from
> Purple Finch songs is probably because I have been an "ear birder"
> ever since I began birding at the age of 11. The ability of birders
to
> discriminate similar bird songs seems to vary widely among
> individuals-- far more than the ability to discriminate species
> visually.
>
> Two species which are much more difficult to distinguish by songs
are
> Purple Finch and Cassin's Finch. Cassin's has a very similar song
> pattern to Purple Finch, and also frequently includes mimicry.
> However, since the breeding ranges of these two species do not
overlap
> much (except in a few areas like western Chelan and Kittitas
> Counties), separating them is usually not much of a problem. Also,
> most call-notes of Cassin's Finches (as with those of House Finches)
> are very different from those of House Finches, and easily
> distinguished.
>
>
> Wayne C. Weber
> Delta, BC
> contopus at telus.net
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Martyn Stewart <mstew at naturesound.org>
> To: 'Tweeters (E-mail)' <TWEETERS at u.washington.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 10:50 PM
> Subject: RE: Marymoor Park Report (Redmond, King Co., WA) 2004/03/17
>
>
> > Michael you said
> > <Purple Finch 1 seen, maybe heard more>
> >
> > That is a brave thing to say and I trust your judgment,
identifying
> the
> > sound of a purple finch! I had to see the bird while recording it
to
> make
> > sure I positively identified it as a purple finch call because as
> you know,
> > the purple finch is so similar to the house finch call, sometimes
I
> have had
> > to make a sonogram of the sound to see the slight difference in
> pitch, it is
> > not always evident to the human ear. Incidentally, I have posted
the
> two
> > sounds for your information; ironically, the purple finch
recording
> was made
> > at Marymoor Park, April, 2001
> >
> > Purple finch call
> > http://www.naturesound.org/Sound%20Files/Purple%20Finch.mp3
> >
> >
> > House finch call
> > http://www.naturesound.org/Sound%20Files/House%20Finch.mp3
> >
> >
> >
> > Regards
> > Martyn
> >
> > http://www.naturesound.org
> >
> >
>
>