North Tract Bird Call Help

142 views
Skip to first unread message

Chas Argent

unread,
Apr 19, 2021, 1:52:26 PM4/19/21
to Maryland Birding
Can anyone identify this bird? It repeats twice in this mp3 file. I
heard it for 30+ minutes but could never get a look at it. It sounds
similar to a B&W Warbler to me, but I'm just not sure.

Thanks for any help.

~Chas
Bird.mp3

JAMES SPEICHER

unread,
Apr 19, 2021, 2:10:10 PM4/19/21
to Chas Argent, Maryland Birding
BirdNET says it's a B/W Warbler...

Jim S

--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the web at http://www.mdbirding.com
Unfamiliar with a hotspot mentioned on this list? Quickly locate it here - http://www.mdbirding.com/hotspot.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maryland & DC Birding" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mdbirding+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/CA%2Bua%2BToS5LBFuazyXNVvNOv-ECNrY7dEH60t%2BhBUK2dYatn6bQ%40mail.gmail.com.

Chas Argent

unread,
Apr 19, 2021, 2:11:33 PM4/19/21
to JAMES SPEICHER, Maryland Birding
Thanks, Jim.

~Chas

JAMES SPEICHER

unread,
Apr 19, 2021, 2:58:57 PM4/19/21
to Chas Argent, mdbirding
BirdNET is pretty amazing....Jim

James Tyler Bell

unread,
Apr 19, 2021, 3:11:03 PM4/19/21
to Chas Argent, mdbirding, JAMES SPEICHER
Heavy reliance on AI is not really a good way to learn bird songs, IMO. I just saw a post on Facebook where someone submitted a "song" to BIRDNet that came back as a Red-headed Woodpecker. It was a Gray Tree Frog. In this case, the bird in question is indeed a Black-and-white Warbler but the only other real choice is Blackpoll Warbler. With migration ready to break loose, getting out and experiencing the birds singing while watching them is the best way to really learn them.


Tyler Bell
jtyle...@yahoo.com
California, Maryland


JAMES SPEICHER

unread,
Apr 19, 2021, 3:25:06 PM4/19/21
to James Tyler Bell, Chas Argent, mdbirding
Agree that BirdNET isn't 100% *accurate, but it is a useful tool and who doesn't need all possible tools for the job at hand?  The website gives probabilities in order of likelihood unlike the app, so is more reliable in my opinion.

*The app keeps trying to ID a WCSP as a Meadowlark... but it will learn eventually.

Jim S

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/934001304.2148712.1618859459195%40mail.yahoo.com.

Tim Houghton

unread,
Apr 19, 2021, 5:51:11 PM4/19/21
to James Tyler Bell, James Tyler Bell' via Maryland & DC Birding, Chas Argent, JAMES SPEICHER
Yes, I so strongly agree. Learn the songs! Be in the field. It's somehow disappointing and even sad how so many people rely on AI for song and photo ID. I wish merlin would go away. Something nearly pathetic about it all. I mean, come on. It can be figured out...by the birder without that technical help. It will also be learned much much faster. And you keep your individuality and human quality to a higher degree in the process. 
 
Tim Houghton
(Glen Arm)

Rodney Burley

unread,
Apr 19, 2021, 6:38:28 PM4/19/21
to Tim Houghton, James Tyler Bell, James Tyler Bell' via Maryland & DC Birding, Chas Argent, JAMES SPEICHER
Well said Tim. Nothing better than being in the field and learning with all your senses.   Rod Burley.                                                          Laurel

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 19, 2021, at 5:51 PM, Tim Houghton <timho...@comcast.net> wrote:



Mike Bowen

unread,
Apr 19, 2021, 6:58:50 PM4/19/21
to Tim Houghton, Rodney Burley, mdbi...@google.com, James Tyler Bell' via Maryland & DC Birding, Chas Argent, JAMES SPEICHER
I have to say that, after 50-plus years of slowly but surely -- and I do stress slowly, because we only hear some of these migrants singing on the their Northward migration in Spring --  learning the songs of migrant warblers here in Maryland and DC, I am fully in favor of NOT using any electronic aids.  I'm with Tyler:  learning is a PROCESS; it is not instant gratification.  Frankly, it's also much more fun. Hearing that song, and thinking to yourself  "Wow, that 3-part song sounds like a Tennessee Warbler" -- and then seeing that it really IS a Tennessee Warbler!  Nothing quite like it . . . .

My take, anyway. If you want to use the contemporary aids, which I greatly admire for their technical efficiency, by all means go ahead.

Mike Bowen
Montgomery Bird Club
Bethesda

D. H. Michael Bowen
8609 Ewing Drive
Bethesda, Maryland 20817



JAMES SPEICHER

unread,
Apr 19, 2021, 8:56:36 PM4/19/21
to Mike Bowen, Tim Houghton, Rodney Burley, mdbi...@google.com, James Tyler Bell' via Maryland & DC Birding, Chas Argent
50+ too, but I will use all the help I can get...

Jim S

JAMES SPEICHER

unread,
Apr 19, 2021, 9:10:21 PM4/19/21
to mdbirding
50+ too, but I will use all the help I can get...

Jim S

may be a duplicate posting...

Barbara Hlavka

unread,
Apr 20, 2021, 11:30:13 AM4/20/21
to Maryland & DC Birding
I'm pretty new to this group and so love hearing about bird sightings.  At way past 60+ I now have the luxury of time to spend outdoors with birds and other flora and fauna.  I was an educator for more than 36 years and the most important thing I learned from watching children master skills is that we all learn differently.  When we are lucky enough to have someone/something to help guide us, we are so much more able to enjoy learning.  The other day, my husband and I were walking a back path in Little Bennett and I thought I saw a Little-blue gnatcatcher darting around in the shrubs - a tiny bird that I haven't had the pleasure of seeing in over 20 years.  But, it was flitting around so quickly, it was hard to get a really good look.  I used BirdNET to capture its call, and it agreed with my guess.  I don't know why this was such a terrible thing to do.  I feel very defeated when I read postings of people who condemn others for using learning aides.  There are so many things wrong in our world today.  Can't we just let people watch, listen to, and enjoy birds any way we want to (as long as we aren't harming them!)?  Sorry, but I feel so discouraged with some of this discourse.

Barb H

Scott Young

unread,
Apr 20, 2021, 11:46:30 AM4/20/21
to Maryland & DC Birding

You are so right Barb. Everyone learns differently and if it gives them pleasure and reduces frustration, that's important. My approach is always evolving as I evaluate the advice from others and the various tools available. (I'm still waiting for the mind implant that will install recognition of all birds and their songs!) Some especially like the process of learning, others the end results!

Scott Young
Giathersburg.

Janet Millenson

unread,
Apr 20, 2021, 12:13:42 PM4/20/21
to mdbi...@googlegroups.com

So we're doing "app-shaming" now? Should everyone stop relying on eBird, then? After all, it gives people "technical help" in finding birding hotspots. Is it okay to carry a paperback Sibley into the field, but not to put the Sibley app (which includes bird sounds) on your phone? If an app tells you a song sounds like a Wood Thrush, why is that worse than if a trip leader says the same thing?

--
Janet Millenson
Potomac, MD (Montgomery County)
ja...@twocrows.com


Marcia Watson

unread,
Apr 20, 2021, 12:17:30 PM4/20/21
to Barbara Hlavka, Maryland & DC Birding
Barbara,

I think what others were saying is that using an app instead of trying to identify the bird yourself takes all the fun and learning out of it. To my mind, what you did is different - you made an ID and then confirmed it with the recording. That’s not much different than how we used printed field guides in the “old days” - look at the bird and then at the field guide. Now technology is offering us the ability to confirm via sound as well as appearance. 

And yes, you have a good point about letting people do what works for them. 

Welcome to our group. 

Marcia 
------------
Marcia Watson
Bowie, MD


On Apr 20, 2021, at 11:30 AM, Barbara Hlavka <bwhl...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm pretty new to this group and so love hearing about bird sightings.  At way past 60+ I now have the luxury of time to spend outdoors with birds and other flora and fauna.  I was an educator for more than 36 years and the most important thing I learned from watching children master skills is that we all learn differently.  When we are lucky enough to have someone/something to help guide us, we are so much more able to enjoy learning.  The other day, my husband and I were walking a back path in Little Bennett and I thought I saw a Little-blue gnatcatcher darting around in the shrubs - a tiny bird that I haven't had the pleasure of seeing in over 20 years.  But, it was flitting around so quickly, it was hard to get a really good look.  I used BirdNET to capture its call, and it agreed with my guess.  I don't know why this was such a terrible thing to do.  I feel very defeated when I read postings of people who condemn others for using learning aides.  There are so many things wrong in our world today.  Can't we just let people watch, listen to, and enjoy birds any way we want to (as long as we aren't harming them!)?  Sorry, but I feel so discouraged with some of this discourse.

Paul O'Brien

unread,
Apr 21, 2021, 12:11:05 AM4/21/21
to marsh...@comcast.net, bwhl...@gmail.com, mdbi...@googlegroups.com
Let me throw in a plug for the field guide.  On my first day of birding (5/7/49) I saw a warbler singing on a bush.  I flipped a couple of pages of a 1947 edition of Peterson and there it was - a Prairie Warbler.  I turned to the text and it said the song was a series of notes that went up the chromatic scale.  Sure enough Peterson was right, you can identify birds by song.  So I studied the song descriptions of all the other warblers at home.  To show you that it works, I identified my life Nashville Warbler from my bed.  It was singing in a neighbor's back yard.  I threw on some clothes, rushed outside and there it was.  The useful thing about field guides is that you can review the text in comfort at home, learn the word descriptions and be ready.  I must confess that I haven't deciphered Sibley's system for lack of trying since I know songs by the Peterson method - actually the Aretas Saunders method the predates Peterson's book, but you get the idea.  Try it.

Paul O'Brien
Rockville, MD

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages