anonsally: Quiz for @lies / other birdwatchersIf it’s not too…
Quiz for @lies / other birdwatchers
If it’s not too late, don’t watch the video yet!
Last weekend I took a bird walk in one of the regional parks. For a long time, I didn’t see any birds, just heard a lot, most of which I could not recognise by sound.
The one I really wanted to identify was one with an ascending, echo-y, electronic-sounding song ending in a weird trill. It sounded like a video game sound effect, not a bird. But there were several of whatever that bird was, and I couldn’t see any of them. I did eventually get a glimpse of one, though not enough to identify it, but as I was leaving I asked a woman with binoculars and she told me what it was.
So, @lies, if you didn’t already watch the video, can you guess what it was just from my description? Then listen to the video (if you haven’t already) to confirm! (Note: you may have to turn up the volume quite a bit to hear it well. Also, there may be other birds’ sounds mixed in.)
Anyone else reading this who is not a birdwatcher, you should also listen to it, because the birdsong is really weird and does not sound like it occurs in nature.
[I will post (or more likely reblog) the answer to this quiz later! Pretty sure it’ll be a reblog, as @lies probably has it covered.]
Fun quiz! I put my guess in the replies before listening, then listened to confirm. I remember the first time I heard that bird, and how I simply had to get a look to figure out what was making that amazing sound. Your ability to describe the song so succinctly and identifiably is a tribute to your skill.
Something this reminds me of: we just resumed in-person outings of our local birdwatching group yesterday, and one of the participants showed me the latest update to the Merlin bird ID app, which has added live vocalization identification. You activate the sound ID mode, hold up your phone, and it tells you what it’s hearing.
It’s really good. Apparently it suggests incorrect birds a small percentage of the time, and it doesn’t cover all species, but from the quick demo I was impressed. I’m pretty sure it would have identified this bird for you.
Because of my weird obsession with county birding I know most of vocalizations I hear already, at least when I’m birding in my usual stomping grounds. But I don’t have to travel far to start hearing things I can’t identify, so I can see myself getting a lot of use out of it on the road.
Thanks for the cool birding content!
Reposted from https://lies.tumblr.com/post/655783613671079936.
