jeffw@midas.WR.TEK.COM (Jeff Winslow) (08/11/90)
I've listened to everything on the records that go with Peterson's Western Birds book except the waterfowl (which I think you'll agree is an unlikely listen), and I still can't find these two... maybe someone has heard them. Or maybe they're somebody's escaped pets. Anyway: 1) Some kind of warble followed by six notes: D ^ E ^ G ... v C ^ E ^ G... sometimes given twice, with a rhythm like "ball-bearing, ball-bearing" where ball and bearing take up the same amount of time. The ^ and v indicate direction of pitch movement. The average pitch is about that of a robin's evening song. I heard it while walking through some park blocks here in Portland, Oregon. 2) A rather wild warble finishing by bouncing back and forth several times between two notes an octave apart, about three notes to the second. The upper note was a bit higher than 1). Part of the bouncing effect could have been an echo - I heard this one in a high canyon adjoining the Columbia River Gorge at about 2500 ft. Now don't tell me it was a mutated hermit thrush that flew over from Hanford. :-) Seriously, any suggestions? Jeff Winslow