Working on Flycatcher song lately. I’ll be seeing a number of them on my Dakota circuit this year and I’ve never really been solid on Alder/Willow/Acadian so I’m working hard on that kind of stuff this winter so that spring and summer will be a better id period for me on the trouble groups.
Example of below of my thoughts as I hear them and try to commit to memory. I associate the sound with wording maybe that I’ve read or something else if the reading doesn’t translate well in my head to the sound I’m hearing. I’m using the online Macaulay Library which is insane for how many audio and video items that have for each bird. Much better/deeper than most of the field guides and way beyond other sources like YouTube.
Alder – ReeBee to my ear going up and down a buzzy scale in pitch. Always reminds me of an old metal washboard for some reason with something wooden run across it.
Willow – Spit Zee to me. Ritz Bew by many book sources or Pit Spear. Always sounds spat out to me so the Pit Spear is better. The two notes are clear and separate with the first being much more spitty.
Acadian – Keet or Peet really loud single note with pause until the next a couple / few seconds later. Sometimes doubled up, but mostly just a loud yelled out Keet.
Cordilleran – Tweet Seet very fast with a pretty high pitch.
Dusky – CheUp Twe or CheUp Tweep or just CheUp sounding. High pitch on first double note call and then much lower with a T sounding start for the second note.
Yellow-bellied – CheBunk given very quickly. Just that two note piece run together. Didn’t seem to vary much more and spaced out from the next call by at least 4 seconds usually more.
Least – CheBec smacked out quick and often in close succession. A much sassier version of the above Yellow-bellied and a lot more urgency to the call.
The Macaulay Library is pretty sweet, sitting with an iPad tossing names in an having dozens of clips of great quality is pretty good. Even pulled out a Hooded Warbler and Veery calling in the background of a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher clip. The clips are nice and long in many cases 4 to 10 minutes allowing you to take in the whole forest of sounds and get a feel for the bird call in the environment.
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