Help with UNID Song from Upstate NY

[Mike Chace-Ortiz]

Good morning All

We were recently at a campsite in Waterloo, NY just outside of Seneca Falls.

Despite the rainy, dreary weather, this guy was singling all day long. You’ll hear the song 8 times in this edited recording.

I looked long and hard but never saw the bird. Merlin vacillates between a Warbling Vireo and a Baltimore Oriole. 

Doesn’t sound like the vireo to me but does have the same tonal quality as the Orioles I hear in Maine but not a song I’ve heard here.

Anyone familiar with the song and able to ID?

Thanks for the help.

—mco

[Ian Lynch]

The main voice does sound like Baltimore Oriole. There are clearly Red-winged Blackbird and Mourning Dove in the background. I think I'm picking up Red-eyed Vireo and there might be a Warbling Vireo at the start, which could explain Merlin's waffling.

Peace שָׁלוֹם سلام

Ian

he/him/his

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[Mike Chace-Ortiz]

Thanks Alicia

I guess we’ll go with Oriole then! 

We did indeed make it to Montezuma. Slightly odd in that we had to stay in the car (peak breeding season) as we slowly made our way around the refuge on a cold and dreary, rainy day.

We did end up with more than 50 species in the book for 3 hours of watching with 6 lifers, so not bad at all. I don’t recall ever seeing so many Great Blue Herons in one place — hundreds…

Kind regards

—mco

On Jun 9, 2025, at 11:13, te...@ottcmail.com wrote:

Hi Mike,

I expected you to get lots of responses from Finger Lakes birders but just realized you sent this to the Maine birds list!  (I live in Seneca County NY so I am on the local bird list, but also on the Maine list b/c in my dreams I get to live in Maine - plus we visit whenever we can.)  When I listened to your tape I immediately heard Baltimore Oriole, even though I hadn't read the next line where you said what Merlin's guesses were.  It doesn't seem like an odd song, except that at this point the orioles are all paired up and are nesting here (about 15 miles south of Waterloo) so they aren't singing so regularly.  But three weeks ago there still was a fair amount of oriole song here and it could be that this bird arrived late or was unlucky getting a mate and is still trying.

Baltimore Oriole song can have very local dialects from what I hear here.  One year we had a male with a very distinctive song, both rhythm and melody, and for a 6 or 8 years after that we could here snatches of that song in those of younger males at our house, but I've never heard anything like it in other orioles, not even the ones just a mile or two up the road!  (As you probably noticed when you visited, this part of the Finger Lakes is very popular with orioles, we always have multiple nests on our little 2½ acre plot as do all our neighbors.)  This year, 20 years later, I was startled to hear a song that again echoed part of his distinctive song so bits of it still linger on here but I still haven't heard it elsewhere.  Maybe your birds have a different accent from the ones here?  I've never been to Maine in April/May, we go in the fall, so have not hear the orioles singing there.

And I don't know if Warbling Vireos have local accents but have never heard one sing anything like this song, the tone is possible but the rhythm seems off and it lacks the upward tendency in pitch toward the end, which seems uniform here.

Hope you had a successful trip to Montezuma and are having fun birding in Maine, the state of my dreams!

Best -

Alicia

[Mike Chace-Ortiz]

Thanks Ian

Oriole seems to be the consensus. 

Kind regards

—mco