Date: 5/16/26 12:09 pm From: Ross Silcock via groups.io <silcock...> Subject: [NEBirds] Merlin and warbling-vireos- Ted Floyd
This is an excerpt from a Feb 2026 post to COBIRDS by Ted Floyd, with some snipping by me. Some challenging thoughts re ID even with audio. I suspect the Nebraska Panhandle has a mix not unlike the CO Front Range.
The two warbling-vireos are indeed full species, according to current science, and both of them are here in the Front Range metro region. David Suddjian reminds us that the songs of Eastern and Western warbling-vireos are distinct, and I don't disagree. But I am wary of our ability to tell them apart, especially where they overlap, as here. Do they differ, to our human ears, between Nevada and New Jersey? Sure. Between San Miguel Co., Colo., and New Jersey? Yes, I would say so. But all up and down the I-25 corridor, from Ft. Collins to Pueblo and beyond, where most of us live and bird? I'm not convinced of that. I've been studying these birds' songs intensively for close to 20 years now, and I simply don't trust my ears, or, let's be honest, my brain all that much. I think it's probably true that there are some, well, no-brainers in the mix. But birds on migration? Birds exposed to the "wrong" vireo's song? Hybrids or intergrades, perish the thought? I imagine there's an awful lot of that going on here.
But can we, please, pretty please, agree on one thing? "Merlin" isn't adequate for the ID. It really isn't. And please keep in mind: I am one of the loudest champions of Merlin. It's a magnificent guide, pedagogically brilliant, informing and inspiring millions of peeps who might not otherwise notice birds. Merlin is all those things. It really is. But, again, Merlin is, in the first and final analysis, a guide. A suggestion, a recommendation. And so, as the old saying goes, we "trust but verify." Merlin wonderfully outputs spectrograms, and saves the audio, for every single bird it provisionally identifies for you. When Merlin says "Eastern Warbling-Vireo", great—but you'd better be prepared to produce the goods: the spectrogram for your friendly neighborhood eBird reviewer.
Ross
Ross Silcock
6810 Tournament Drive,
Houston, TX 77069
