I have a sparrow that has been driving me nuts on my surveys the last week. I tried turning it in to every other bird but have finally landed on a field sparrow. The bird perches on a bush that is not part of my survey property, so I can’t just walk out. Plus, I’m supposed to be monitoring other birds and can only do so much with a non survey species.
Yesterday, I tried playing a field sparrow call to get the bird to fly over. It didn’t but a neighboring field sparrow did. Then, I tried playing a clay-colored sparrow call and the bird flew over–and it doesn’t sound like a clay-colored at all. So, is this a young field sparrow working on his sound? A really hoarse field sparrow that has been singing like crazy all summer? Or is a hybrid field sparrow/clay-colored sparrow. They have been known to occur. Here’s a video of a hybrid singing.
I may have to drive down to the survey area on my own time and see if I can get a photo. The few times the bird has flown by and not hidden itself in foliage, it looked like a field sparrow. Anyway, here are a few videos of the bird singing:
I’ve had a similar “problem” near my home. I could not figure out what this strange bird call was- it was calling all day and into the night, sometimes randomly at night. I knew we had white-throated sparrows around, but the call didn’t match that.
I took a recording and shared it with the local birding mailing list and they all said it was indeed a white-throated sparrow; probably a juvenile working on his song. Recording is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scanadensis/5934851030/in/photostream
It’s amazing just how aberrant it is.
Here is another blog you may also enjoy:
http://planetbirds.blogspot.com/
it presents a different bird species everyday!