Two Different Witchities
We birded Glendalough State Park during the Detroit Lakes Bird Festival. There were common yellowthroats singing on territory all over. I even managed to get video of them through my spotting scope and digital camera. They are usually described as having a song that says, "witchety, witchety, witchety" but sometimes they can be a little different. Here are two different common yellowthroats singing, the first is the usual call and the second is just a little different (you can go directly to YouTube and watch them in high definition if you want):
Labels: Detroit Lakes, digivideo, warbler
posted by birdchick at 7:48 AM
5 Comments:
Common Yellowthroats sing variations on that theme regionally as well. If you are ever out here in northern California, you might not even recognize the call. The emphasis is on the second syllable rather than the first, and that emphasis is more pronounced than on any syllable of the two birds you recorded (which pretty much match what I got used to growing up in Michigan).
When we were in Texas this spring the birds sang a pattern that was a little closer to the typical eastern birds but gently emphasized the second syllable.
Great video!
I've never liked the "witchety" description for the Common Yellowthroat song. The problem is that witchety is normally pronounced with emphasis on the first syllable, but the bird commonly emphasizes the third. So I think of it as one two THREE, one two THREE, onetwoTHREE. Or sometimes THREE one two THREE one two THREE.
The only problem is that I also use 123 for Carolina Wren, though with a different cadence.
I agree with rmharvey. I think of it mores as:
"look at YOU, look at YOU, look at YOU!"
or all together, "lookatchew lookatchew lookatchew", because warblers don't have very good diction, you know.
rmharvey, you're right about the witchety. I've never liked that either. But I don't like "TeaKettle" for a Carolina Wren, "No Hope" for an Inca Dove, or "Teacher Teacher" for an Ovenbird either.
Out here in the SF Bay Area, our Yellowthroats say one-TWO-three one-TWO-three, making matters more confusing.
For a real difference in songs, listen to Song Sparrows. Our calls out here are night-and-day different from those back east. Same 3 components, but pitch and cadence are different.
In March I was in Texas near Laguna Atascosa and had a very interesting experience with a Bewick's Wren. We heard a bird calling and I thought it sounded like a Bewick's, but they have such a varied repertoire that it is sometimes hard to tell. I pulled out my iPod with Bewick's Wren call and played one call, just to confirm that what we were hearing was a Bewick's. Not only did hearing the call on the iPod confirm what we were hearing, but our live Bewick's Wren switched its call to exactly match the pitch and cadence of the bird on the recording. It was amazing that it would flip a switch and do exactly the call on the tape when it had been doing a variation up until that point.
".... or "Teacher Teacher" for an Ovenbird either."
Yes, that is another of my pet peeves. The word teacher trails off at the end, but the overnbirds I know become more emphatic at the end.
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