Blue-headed Vireo sound

[Scott Richardson]

Today I listened to a blue-headed vireo singing and calling for quite a while, hoping to get a Confirmed code for the atlas (nope), and heard a new sound. I wondered if it had special meaning.

The call started as chatter at a higher pitch than usual, rising and accelerating slightly before transitioning into a whiny descending whinny. The last part was reminiscent of a sora or, maybe, the three stooges. The whole thing took 2-4 seconds.

I’ve been through xeno-canto, iBird, and allaboutbirds without finding anything like it. I didn’t make a recording. Does my description sound familiar?

Scott

[christ...@gmail.com]

Hi Scott,

Birds if the World says "female uses a whinny when aggressively confronting an intruding female (Morton et al. 1998) (ML140291one whinny at beginning of cut)." That reference is: Morton, E. S., B. J. M. Stutchbury, J. S. Howlett and H. W. Piper. (1998). Genetics monogamy in Blue-headed Vireos and a comparison with a sympatric vireo with extra-pair paternity. Behavioral Ecology 9:515-524. https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/9/5/515/208896

Hope that helps,

Christine

[Scott Richardson]

Thanks, Christine, that’s really useful. Josh also sent a link to BHVI trills (=whinny) in the Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds on the Cornell Lab’s Bird Academy. The variety of vireo notes, and the various ways they put them together, will keep me on my toes. Glad to link this sound to a known behavior (upgrading an S7 to a T).

Scott

> On Jul 25, 2021, at 11:22, christ...@gmail.com <christ...@gmail.com> wrote:
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