Date: 2/12/26 10:23 am From: <tgmiko...> via groups.io <tgmiko...> Subject: [OrangeCountyBirding] The Merlin/Red-winged Blackbird mystery (solved?)
Hi, This morning, while walking Duke on our daily bird tour of Wheeler Park I heard some Red-winged Blackbirds. I did not see any. I also heard and saw Starlings. There were no Red-winged Blackbirds. A light bulb went on over my head. This weekend I was a cattle lot in the Antelope Valley, where there were many hundreds each of Starlings, Brewer's, and Red-winged Blackbirds. I suspect that Merlin "hears Red-winged Blackbirds everywhere" because it is hearing Starlings imitating Red-winged Blackbirds. Last Friday while looking for the Scott's Oriole in Orange County I stood there and watched a Northern Mockingbird imitate Cassin's Kingbird and White-breasted Nuthatch, and Merlin identified them as said species. I wonder if looking at the spectrograms would detect any difference between a Mockingbird and the species that it is imitating? Up until now I had always assumed that there would be something on the spectrogram that gives it away but now I suspect that not to be the case. Tom
Tom Miko Claremont 91711 909.241.3300 "We lose a rifle and get punished. They lose a war and get promoted."--Ben Edwards
