Date: 5/21/26 4:40 am From: Paul Roisen via groups.io <roisenp1950...> Subject: [NEBirds] The Twp Warbling Vireos: Follow up
Greeting from Sioux City, IA
* Ross Silcock-Co-editor Birds of Nebraska Online*, sent the
following to the Nebraska listserv sometime May 2026 regarding this article
from Ted Floyd, a well-known birder from Colorado who first introduce me to
birding by ear rather and just looking for birds with eyes and bins during
one of my very early IOU Spring Meeting for which Ted Floyd was our Keynote
speaker.
This was long before *there was any talk of “two warbling-vireo”
becoming full species according to current science, and both of them are
here in the Front Range metro region of Colorado.*
* 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 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. *
_____________________________
A very large percentage of people who bird Nebraska can look forward to the
opportunity to add a Western Warbling Vireo to their state list.
Interestingly,
as of my search at Macaulay Library.org, there is only ONE recorded record
of a Western Warbling Vireo (WEWV) from Nebraska.
*Your friend the Spectrogram: Courtesy of MacaulayLibrary.org.*
*Eastern Warbling Vireo (EAWV)**.*
[image: image.jpeg]
*Eastern Warbling Vireo*
- *The Melody:* Sounds like a continuous, breezy, and pleasant string of
notes, sometimes described as a "happy drunk making a conversational point".
- *The Pitch:* Lower-pitched and highly "sing-songy". Most of the
beginning notes stay in the same octave.
- *The Ending:* The most distinctive feature is that it usually ends on
an emphatic, accented high note.
*IMHO**: The (EAVA) has a much more pleasant and enthusiastic singing
voice than the (WEWV).*
*you will note a considerable difference between the spectrogram of an
Eastern Warbling Vireo and a Western Warbling Vireo. *
· *The Melody:* The song gives a more fragmented, "choppy" feel
because it lacks a continuous flow.
· *The Quality:* Described as "burry," squeaky, or slightly
raspier—more like a finch.
· *The Pitch:* Contains higher-pitched notes peppered evenly
throughout the entire song, rather than saving the highest note for the end.
*Western Warbling Vireo**. Far West Ventura, California *
[image: image.jpeg]
*Below* is the only WEWV Spectrogram I could find for Nebraska. Recorded
by Steven Mlodinow June 1, 2022 at Oliver Reservoir in Kimball County.
[image: image.png]
Please note the difference between the Ventura California recording
and the Kimball County, Nebraska recording. Similar but clearly a huge
difference in vocalization as you go further west.
Sure enough, one day after I wrote about only having one WEWV
audio/spectrogram for Nebraska, Stephen Brenner and Brady Krag turned in a
checklist with two audio/spectrograms supporting Western Warbling Vireo.
From 1 one spectrogram to 3.
#1 [image: image.png] #2[image: Western Warbling Vireo - Stephen Brenner] #1
Looks very much like the S. Mlodinow recording from 2022. Recording #2
seems quite different and I had trouble hearing WEWV but suspect it is the
portion circled in red.
Regardless, this bodes well for possibly hearing one or two next
weekend at the NOU.
[image: image.jpeg]
The Nebraska map above (*from Bird of Nebraska Online*) shows a best
guess, based on current thinking, that the further west you go in the
Panhandle the more likely you are to have the opportunity to run into a
(WEW). It is very possible that Nebraska birders will either confirm the
theory or disprove it once we start adding more and more audio
(spectrograms) to solidify a more accurate map of the areas the Western
Warbling Vireo cross during the annual migration journeys.
There other things you need to consider as you go searching for
Warbling Vireos are the “Migration Dates”.
*Western Warbling Vireo*:
*Spring Migration: *May 8 through the middle of June.
* Fall Migration: *August 30th through September 15.
Very much looking forward to the Fall NOU meeting and expecting to
get some decent opportunities for a new Nebraska bird for my list. *But
NOT without a decent spectrogram*. We need some decent audio to pass the
test!
Maybe more info will be shared with us on Friday or Saturday at the
meeting.
In closing, I would like to thank Ross Silcock and Mark Brogie for
providing me with good information and food for thought. An extra thanks
to Ross for giving me some corrections on my thinking. I hope this
version is more accurate than the one I first shared with Ross.
P.S. I have attached a copy in case you wish to print it out for some
reason or other.
