Date: 6/9/25 9:08 am From: linda hodges <hikerhodges...> Subject: Re: [cobirds] Great Crested Flycatcher, Greenlee Wildlife Preserve, Boulder Co., June 8–9
For those of you not at the convention, you missed a very informative and
entertaining presentation by Ted, entitled
"Lies, Danmed Lies and Spectograms: Interpreting and Overinterpreting
Computer Printouts of Birdsong."
A shame that wasn't recorded!
*Linda Hodges*
*Colorado Springs*
On Mon, Jun 9, 2025 at 8:07 AM Ted Floyd <tedfloyd73...> wrote:
> Hey, all.
>
> Shortly after Hannah Floyd and I got in yesterday evening, Sun., June 8,
> from the most excellent Colorado Field Ornithologists (CFO) annual meeting
> in Grand Junction, I took a quick walk down to Greenlee Wildlife Preserve,
> Lafayette, Boulder Co., and what did I hear in the tall shade trees near
> the intersection of Salina & South Fork but a *great crested flycatcher.*
> It's ironic: On the CFO field trip to the Colorado National Monument that
> Hannah and I and Cary Atwood led earlier in the day yesterday, we all got
> to enjoy ash-throated flycatchers, in the same genus as the great crested
> flycatcher, aplenty, and we talked about how, while it's nice to look at
> *Myiarchus* flycatchers, nothing beats listening to them.
>
> Then, this Mon. morning, June 9, whilst settling down at the desk, what
> should I hear in the big ole shade tree out front but a great crested
> flycatcher. This time, I had the phone nearby, so I pointed it out the open
> window and got a perfectly diagnostic spectrogram of the flycatcher's
> spectrographically unique call:
>
> [image: GCFL.png]
>
> Note the tripartite spectrographic signature, unmistakably recalling the
> insignia of the Klingon Empire:
>
> 1–a steadily rising whistle through the 2K band. 2–a sharp spike from 3K
> to 5K. 3–a whistle falling fairly fast through the 2K band. These three
> elements create the *wheeEEP!* mnemonic known to any birder who's ever
> wandered the Eastern broadleaf forest in summer.
>
> Another irony. Or good timing. Or something. Remember that guy's
> presentation at the Sat., June 7, afternoon science session at the CFO
> annual meeting? ;-)
> tl; dr– Just press the red button on your phone, make a quick-and-dirty
> sound spectrogram, and it's off to the races.
>
> As to seeing the bird, good luck with that. I caught the briefest glimpse
> of a largish bird in the treetops, a plausible *Myiarchus*. Based on my
> encounters yesterday evening and this morning, I would say that it calls
> for a few minutes at a time, then falls silent. Pretty typical of great
> crested flycatchers in my experience. I guess you could walk up and down
> South Fork Dr., especially around the intersection with Salina St. And I
> wouldn't be surprised at all if the bird makes its way down to the preserve
> proper; it's nicer down there anyhow. ;-)
> If you stay in the neighborhood, be mindful of, and respectful toward, the
> gendarmes and, much more so, the punctilious HOA inspectors, who patrol the
> mean streets of the subdivision looking to write up citations for the
> little girls drawing blue unicorns and pink fairies with water-soluble
> sidewalk chalk.
>
> Ted Floyd
> Lafayette, Boulder Co.
>
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