Date: 5/21/26 2:57 pm From: Paul Roisen via groups.io <roisenp1950...> Subject: [NEBirds] Cerulean and worm eating warblers
Search for 2 1/2 hours with no luck but I heard the cerulean faintly but no
follow up. God bless. Have a great day.
*Paul O. Roisen*
*Sioux City, IA 51106 **Woodbury County, IA*
*Mobile 712-301-2817 **<roisenp1950...> <roisenp1950...>*
On Thu, May 21, 2026 at 6:40 AM Paul Roisen via groups.io <roisenp1950=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> 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.
>
>
>
> God Bless,
>
> Paul Roisen
>
>
>
