[Tweeters] Wrentit question and Pacific Cty Bullock's Oriole

[Steve Hampton]

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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>



-- 
​Steve Hampton​
Port Townsend, WA  (qatáy)
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