The Urban Pantheist

Birdsong

Mar. 19th, 2007 at 11:28 AM

Yesterday I had to go to work, to put in my mandatory special event time. Since for some reason there isn't much traffic on Sundays, I got there early. That was good, as it gave me a chance to go for a walk on the snow, and then I came across something pretty cool. In the trees overhead was a mixed flock of blackbirds. After I shot this video, I went to go see what they were. There were 30 or 40 male red-winged blackbirds, and a dozen or so starlings. I thought I heard grackles, but I wasn't certain that I could see them. There could have been other kinds of blackbirds--brewer's, bronzed, or rusty, or maybe some brown-headed cowbirds, but I could only make out the redwings and starlings.

This video is for listening. Close your eyes and enjoy. For the birdos, how many species can you pick out?
The woodpecker was on the other side of me, in the deer enclosure. I never saw it.

Comments

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ms_cantrell wrote:

Mar. 19th, 2007 03:41 pm (UTC)

that was wonderful. wanted to tell you before i listen to it again.

thank you.

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urbpan wrote:

Mar. 19th, 2007 03:45 pm (UTC)

You're welcome! Glad you liked it. :)

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ms_vanilla wrote:

Mar. 19th, 2007 03:57 pm (UTC)

They sound incredibly mechanical! That is a fantastic recording.

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treeclimber47 wrote:

Mar. 19th, 2007 04:16 pm (UTC)

Listening to the tape RW Blackbird was in the majority (as expected). Heard a little bit of Starling and Grackle. The only other blackbird expected would be Rusty Blackbird. I couldn't pick one out from the chatter. The woodpecker sounded like a downy. A could hear a Cardinal calling twice, that was all I could get.

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fledchen wrote:

Mar. 19th, 2007 07:15 pm (UTC)

I'm not sure how many species there are, because my own birds were far too busy happily talking back to the recording :)

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dragonwrites wrote:

Mar. 19th, 2007 08:30 pm (UTC)

Speaking of woodpeckers...

One pretty common thing to see/hear in my backyard is woodpeckers pecking on the telephone poles. This kind of perplexes me, since there are plenty of real trees--living and dead--in the area, but I rarely catch them in trees. They seem to like the telephone poles. I was just wondering:

Do telephone poles contain grubs or some other woodpecker treat? Do woodpeckers just like pecking things, regardless of whether there's a protein yield? Are these birds just confused?

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urbpan wrote:

Mar. 19th, 2007 08:57 pm (UTC)

Woodpeckers peck for three reasons: to extract insects, to excavate nesting cavities, and to make noise. I suspect your woodpeckers are pecking to make noise. A common complaint to the Audubon wildlife information line is woodpeckers hammering on metal on houses and chimneys and such. Woodpeckers make hammering noises as part of their breeding behavior. Other birds sing, woodpeckers rat-a-tat-tat.

Also, it occurs to me, telephone poles ARE dead trees, and the woodpeckers may be drawn to them for that reason. I think they are treated with creosote or something that prevents them from being degraded by fungi or insects, however.

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dragonwrites wrote:

Mar. 19th, 2007 09:18 pm (UTC)

that makes sense. thanks :)

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treeclimber47 wrote:

Mar. 20th, 2007 12:57 pm (UTC)

That's pretty much it, woodpeckers drum to declare possesion of breeding territory in the same way a songbird uses its voice. They choose a dead branch or other surface for its acoustical properties. A dead branch that's still hard and solid makes the best drum, a telephone pole could fit that description.

When a woodpecker hammers into wood to find insects it's a less regular rythym. The bird is using it's beak more like a chisel than a drumstick and is often working on semi-rotted wood.

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