I could definitely see this fitting after hearing that XenoCanto recording,
thank you for that link, Steve!

Casey, after listening to your recording I was thinking much the same
thing, after spending about 2.5 weeks in California last April, their
song/call is lodged in my brain forever. I'd much agree that this is at
least plausible!

ALSO, whether it's that I've just never been a part of a forum discussing
this Wrentit quandary, I am SHOCKED after pulling up their map on eBird.
Never would have thought to even consider it for Washington. But I cannot
believe that with so many opportunities for crossing the Columbia, they
just won't do it. There's literally a bridge!

Anyway, quandaries aside, applause on your plausible Wrentit!

Happy Birding,

Steven Dammer


On Sun, Jan 29, 2023 at 9:02 PM Steve Hampton <stevechampton at gmail.com>
wrote:


> Casey,

>

> Having birded in California for decades, I'm quite familiar with Wrentits

> and, to be honest, did not expect your recording to be like one. After

> listening to it, I'm fairly convinced it actually is a Wrentit!

>

> First, as you describe, it sounds like one, without a trill. Note that

> females do not do the trill at the end. Here's an example of a "half-song",

> probably a female. https://xeno-canto.org/351988

>

> Second, the sonogram fits well, especially with recordings that are some

> distance away. For example, compare it to the background bird on my

> recording here -- https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/217940591

> --especially the note on my recording at about 5.4 seconds in. Your bird's

> sonogram also has a hint of a flatish declining top, which some Wrentit

> sonograms show. Some also show a double wave at the top, but yours (and

> mine above) show a single wave. Finally, the call notes on your recording

> at 21 and 22.5 seconds show a harmonic at 6 kHz, exactly where the harmonic

> in the female call note is. I cannot find a clean example of a female at

> the moment, but there's one between 7 and 10 seconds here in the background

> behind the trill of a male. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/212160

> Ignoring the trill, the sonogram here looks like yours.

>

> Do you have a lat-long for this bird? It should be confirmed visually.

> I've always thought Washington's first Wrentit would be upriver of Portland

> (not counting Puget Island), but I think they can surprise us. After all

> the fires in California, they've appeared (and established themselves) in

> isolated riparian patches on the Sacramento Valley floor where they would

> have had to cross two miles of nearly bare fields.

>

> Really interesting stuff!

>

>

>

>

> On Sun, Jan 29, 2023 at 7:37 PM casey cunningham <redpeelingbark at gmail.com>

> wrote:

>

>> Hi Tweeters,

>>

>> Yesterday i was on the north jetty rocks of the Columbia and heard a note

>> i couldn't identify that made me think of wrentits, and I remember someone

>> mentioning a possible wrentit at this location. The note reminds me of the

>> first note in their song and seemed to be coming from in the boulders. I'm

>> not saying it was a wrentit, just that it was wrentittian. Anyone know

>> this call? Am i forgetting something obvious?

>>

>> https://ebird.org/checklist/S127237513

>>

>> I couldn't get a view of the source and the only birds i saw on the rocks

>> nearby were two song sparrows.

>>

>> On another note, this morning there was a bullock's oriole in Long

>> Beach. More detail here:

>>

>> https://ebird.org/checklist/S127238468

>>

>> Casey Cunningham

>> Portland

>>

>>

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>> Tweeters at u.washington.edu

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>>

>

>

> --

> ​Steve Hampton​

> Port Townsend, WA (qatáy)

>

>

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