atypical Blue-winged Warbler song type

[Eric DeFonso]

Hi folks,

As I mentioned the other day, I was surprised to hear the song of the Blue-winged Warbler in Welchester Grant Tree Park. This was a lifer for me, and as I walked around the park waiting to hear that bee-BUZZZZ that I'd gotten familiar with over the years in commercial sound recordings, it was almost a disappointment to instead hear something more akin to a Golden-winged Warbler song. If not for the fact that there were zero other warblers singing in the area at the time, I might have overlooked this quiet, buzzy song. At any rate, I made sure to get a look at the bird in the act of singing just to make sure it was what I was told it would be. (And it was.)

Yesterday I took a little time to investigate this, and found only one example of a Blue-winged song that resembles the recording I made below. It was a recording made by Andrew Spencer in Arkansas back in 2007, and in his notes on xeno-canto he too mentions that although the bird appeared phenotypically pure, the song was more like a Golden-winged song. 

The link to my recording is here:

https://soundcloud.com/bay-wren/bwwa-song

And the link to Andrew's sample on xeno-canto is here:

http://www.xeno-canto.org/33468

Note that neither of these songs resembles the so-called Type I or Type II songs usually recognized for the species (the territorial bee-buzzz song or the nesting trill-buzz song, respectively).

I'll be sharing my recording on xeno-canto soon.

Thanks,

Eric DeFonso

Boulder, CO

[Peter Burke]

Hi Eric,
Thanks for sharing your observation of this Blue-winged's song. Having lived along the Mason-Dixon line of Blue-winged x Golden-winged cross breeding, I've learned that calling any of these "pure" can be problematic. One of my last experiences before moving here was with a Golden-winged singing BOTH it's own song and Blue-winged's. I and many other New Jersey birders observed this bird quite closely and there were no visible signs of Brewster's or Lawrence's features - just the vocalizations.

So what's a lister to do?

The idea of "pure bred" anything is subject to all kinds of debate. The more we learn more about bird distribution and behavior, the muddier our understanding of what a species is. Colorado is a hotbed for species intermingling as it is located on the eastern edge of many western birds' ranges and the western edge of many eastern species'. Steve Mlodinow has done interesting fieldwork with hybrid Black-throated Green x Townsend's Warblers (see Colordao Birds spring 2014 vol. 48 no. 2). Likewise, Christian Nunes has studied several hybrids within the Dark-eyed Junco complex including White-winged x Pink-sided. All you really need is one odd duck to light up the COBirds listserv on the topic of hybrids  :)

Anyway, northern migration is all but complete, birds are tending nests making who-knows-what kind of new hybrids and with the solstice just around the corner, it seems like a fine time to initiate high conversation on COBirds.

Happy summer COBirders!

Peter Burke

Editor, Colorado Birds

Colorado Field Ornithologists

935 11th St. Boulder, CO 80302

(973) 214-0140

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[Ted Floyd]

Hi, all. I agree with Eric that this bird sounds more like a Golden-winged Warbler than a Blue-winged Warbler. But it's not a classic Golden-winged, either. It's got the last note cut off. As Peter Burke implies, Blue-winged and Golden-winged warblers' songs are problematic, and, indeed, the two "species" are problematic.

The photos on Mark Chavez's website look textbook perfect for a Blue-winged Warbler. But the bird could still have Golden-winged Warbler genes (irrespective of the song it learned). Leo Shapiro explains it well and provides compelling data in this article in Birding magazine:

https://www.aba.org/birding/v37n3p278.pdf

No question about it, the "winged" warblers provide an ontological conundrum for birders. But the ontology is nothing compared to the simple nomenclature. See below, the text of the most recondite proposal ever submitted to the AOU. That bit in there about Alexander Wilson's name for the bird being "preoccupied"?--the bird in question is the Rockwarbler (family Acanthizidae) of Australia!

Anyhow, here ya go (and, yes, the AOU accepted this proposal, and that's why the Blue-winged Warbler is no longer Vermivora pinus):

============================================

Recognize a new scientific name for the Blue-winged Warbler 

 

Olson and Reveal (2009) have shown that the Linnaean name Certhia pinus is a 

composite name, based on illustrations of birds of two different warbler species, 

the Pine Warbler, now known as Dendroica pinus, illustrated by Catesby, and the 

Blue-winged Warbler, now Vermivora pinus, illustrated by Edwards. 

 

Wilson was aware of the problem and essentially restricted the name to what we 

now call the Pine Warbler. He, and later Bonaparte, in effect lectotypified Certhia 

pinus as Catesby’s plate. Wilson described as new the Blue-winged Warbler, as 

Sylvia solitaria. Wilson used the name pinus for the Pine Warbler. 

 

Baird (1858), however, used pinus of Linnaeus for the Blue-winged Warbler, and 

gave Wilson credit for the name Sylvia (now Dendroica) pinus, incorrectly 

regarding Wilson’s use of that name as a new name. Stejneger (1885) realized 

the latter was wrong and used the name Sylvia vigorsii for the Pine Warbler. 

Stone (1921) argued again that Wilson was giving a name to Catesby’s 

illustration as pinus, and that name, attributed to Wilson, has been used by AOU 

since 1931. But Wilson was merely mentioning the name as used by Latham. 

Even if he intended it as new it would have been a junior homonym, and 

unavailable. 

 

Wilson’s and Bonaparte’s actions clearly made Linnaeus’s name Certhia pinus 

the name for the Pine Warbler, and thus Wilson’s Sylvia solitaria is the name for 

the Blue-winged Warbler, Unfortunately, that name is preoccupied by Sylvia 

solitaria Lewin, 1808 and no other name is available. Olson and Reveal proposed 

the name Vermivora cyanoptera. 

 

I propose that we accept this new name and the other consequences of this 

study. The Blue-winged Warbler and its citation must be listed as: 

 

Vermivora cyanoptera Olson and Reveal. Blue-winged Warbler. 

Vermivora cyanoptera Olson and Reveal, 2009. Wilson Journ. Ornithol. 121:620. 

(eastern Pennsylvania.) 

 

We should add to the account: Notes: Formerly Vermivora pinus Linnaeus. 

 

The Pine Warbler should be listed as Dendroica pinus (Linnaeus, 1769) rather 

than D. pinus (Wilson) and its citation should be: 

 

Certhia Pinus Linnaeus, 1769, Syst. Nat. (ed. 12) 1:187. Based largely on “The 

Pine Creeper” of Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, 

vol. 1, part 4, pl. and text 61 (in America septentrionali = South Carolina.) 

  

In addition the citation for the genus Vermivora must be changed slightly to read: 

Type, by monotypy, Sylvia solitaria Wilson = Vermivora cyanoptera Olson and 

Reveal. 

 

Literature cited: 

 

Olson, S. L., and J. L. Reveal. 2009. Nomenclatural history and a new name for 

the Blue-winged Warbler (Aves: Parulidae). Wilson Journal of Ornithology 

121:618-620. 

 

Name and affiliation of submitter: Richard C. Banks, NACC 

 

Date of proposal: 20 Nov 2009 

[Ted Floyd]

On Friday, June 13, 2014 2:34:56 PM UTC-6, Peter Burke wrote:

Anyway, northern migration is all but complete, birds are tending nests making who-knows-what kind of new hybrids and with the solstice just around the corner, it seems like a fine time to initiate high conversation on COBirds.

Happy summer COBirders!

I'm not sure if the following constitutes "high conversation," but here goes.

Yesterday evening, Tuesday, June 17, Hannah and Andrew and I made recordings of an interesting Spotted Towhee along the Fowler Trail, Boulder County. Here is Andrew's recording of the bird singing a somewhat atypical, tripartite song, the second element lowest (a la Eastern Towhee):

https://soundcloud.com/ted-floyd/spto-andrew

Hannah recorded the same bird giving a bipartite song more typical of Spotted Towhee:

https://soundcloud.com/ted-floyd/spto-hannah 

Here's a recording, by Yours Truly, in which the bird switches between song types:

https://soundcloud.com/ted-floyd/spto-2014-06-17-1922-colo-boul-fotr

Finally, Andrew couldn't resist recording this Lazuli Bunting:

https://soundcloud.com/ted-floyd/lazuli-bunting-by-andrew-floyd

Other birds in the general area were at least three, probably four, and maybe even five pink-and-green Lewis's Woodpeckers and a great throng of White-throated Swifts.

Ted Floyd

Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado