Subject: [Tweeters] Purple Finch song vs House Finch Song
Date: Apr 10 11:13:37 2012
From: Christine Southwick - clsouth at u.washington.edu


For the last three days, our neighborhood has had the pleasure of having a male Purple Finch [PUFI] singing his territorial song from a thick quince on one side of the street, and a male House Finch [HOFI] singing his song from higher up in a fir tree, directly across the street from the singing PUFI.
Talk about a way to compare and distinguish the different songs of the two!
The PUFI's song is so much fuller than the HOFI, meaning, if you could see the sonogram, the PUFI notes would be much broader than the HOFI.
The PUFI's note seem crisper and more melodious than the HOFI too. And the final, clincher, is only the HOFI has that nasal "wheer" at the end.

It wasn't until this morning that I got an identifying look at the PUFI, pleasing, but not really necessary. I haven't yet seen the HOFI, but there is no doubt. I've even been able to teach a couple of neighbors the difference. This the first time that I have heard such a neat comparision--it is almost as though they are competing against each other. One will sing, then the other.

I wish there were some Western bird song CD's that compared territorial bird songs that can be confused (especially at the beginning of the season), when only one bird is heard:

Purple Finch vs House Finch
Oregon Junco vs Spotted Towhee
Bewick's Wren vs Song Sparrow
Pileated Woodpecker vs Northern Flicker

I know there are others, but those are the ones I know can fool me.


I'd also like to have a CD that has their call notes. I can tell about ten birds by just their call notes, but some people can ID upwards to 50 species, and I hate feeling inadequate. I'm surely not Bird Breeding Survey [BBS] material, and someday I would like to be.

Every year, about now, I have to go back and listen to our common warblers, and flycatchers songs, so that, when I hear them high up in trees, and can't seem to find them, that at least I know what I have heard.

Any CD recommendations.

Christine Southwick
N Seattle/Shoreline
clsouthwick at q.com



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